Don't Stop Me Now
by Edo-Salandria
Summary: Fairy Tail thought they lost their light, they gave up. One man never gave up on Lucy Heartfilia and now he is there to help her recover the way he never could. My first work in progress, this is my full version from my CoLu Week 2019 entries for Day 6 & Day 7.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to be a difficult mission, at least it always starts that way. The mission called for a group of mages to help clear out an infestation of dark guild members in a small quaint town just south of Old Fort.

The jewel was worth the week-long journey, it would have been enough to cover rent for a month plus general expenses. Lucy may have even been able to afford the fancy new pen she had been eyeing up.

In hindsight they should have left the damn mission on the board, now Lucy found herself defending herself in the middle of the mountains against her own teammates.

Everything was going along well, they made contact with the town officials that put in the request and headed into the area that the dark guild members seem to be coming from.

They knew it was a two-day hike into the forest and decided to set up camp near a river. Erza had set up a watch schedule so that someone was always alert in the event of an ambush.

Once they found a clear area that was ideal to set up camp, Erza decided to scout the area. Natsu and Happy, always thinking with their stomachs, went hunting for something delicious to cook over the open fire. Gray was in charge of gathering wood for the fire and Lucy set up camp.

Lucy had been contentedly setting up her tent area when Gray came back first. Lucy had noticed he didn't have any wood with him so while she had her back turned to him, half inside her tent to layout her bedroll, she asked him why he didn't have any wood.

No sooner did the words leave her mouth then she felt his ice-cold hand grab her leg tightly, dragging her roughly out of the tent.

"What the hell Gray!" Lucy yelled at her friend and teammate. When she looked up at him he had a cold hard stare in his eyes, as if no one was home behind them.

Gray said nothing and proceeded to kick her in the side as she tried to get up, forcing her to the ground once again. While on the ground, she noticed a small patch of skin on Gray's bare leg that was almost black and rotted.

Lucy immediately thought of a bite mark that had been infected but there was no way something could act that fast. Just as she was about to get up she noticed Erza break free of the tree line behind Gray.

Lucy felt relief flooding her system as Erza approached Gray, surely the scarlet haired beauty had heard the scuffle and was coming to her aid.

As Lucy rose to her feet while backing away, she saw the same grotesque patch of skin on Erza's neck. "Fuck! I need help!" Lucy muttered to herself as she pulled Leo's gate key, calling on her fierce lion, she watched in horror as Erza transformed into her Heaven's Wheel armor.

Leo appeared, the gold shimmering aura fading away. He was about to utter one of his ridiculous professions of love when he immediately saw the bizarre situation laid out in front of him.

"What the hell is going on Lucy?" his voice laced with an unusual tensity at the situation.

"I have no idea, but it may have something to do with those bite marks on them." she pointed to Erza's which was the most visible. She continued, "We need to incapacitate them without severely injuring them."

"Anything for you princess, I'll take care of Erza. You focus on Gray." Loke commanded as he pushed his glasses up and got into his battle stance.

"You got it!" Lucy unfurled her whip and prepared herself to go up against Gray. Gray readied himself in response.

"Gray, I don't want to do this, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Lucy yelled, her heart being torn over having to legitimately fight her friend.

Gray simply responded by cupping his fist in his hand, and in a monotone voice he uttered, "Ice make sword." Once the sword was formed he rushed his blonde teammate.

Lucy cracked the whip and flung it out toward the sword, flicking her wrist at just the right moment to latch onto it. Yanking hard she pulled the weapon out of his hands but almost simultaneously he summoned his arrows and they fired at her rapidly.

She managed to dodge most of them by ducking and rolling to the left on the ground but a few grazed her in the arm and leg. Blood was trickling rapidly from the wounds but it was nothing that would need stitches.

Lucy rose and barely dusted herself off when she saw Gray charging at her. She quickly called out Virgo and instructed her to drill up under him so that he fell into a deep hole. She watched as the Ice Mage suddenly ducked out of sight.

Just as she was dismissing Virgo and checking on Gray in the pit, she felt a cold hard stare in her direction.

Emerging from the tree line was Natsu, his fists engulfed in flames and ready for a fight. His right shoulder sporting the same infectious bite. She glanced over toward Loke, who was in a losing battle with Erza.

Just as she turned her attention back to Natsu, she heard Loke cry out and felt the pull of Loke's gate closing.

"Shit, shit, shit" Lucy rattled in her head trying to come up with a plan. She never thought she would have to defend herself from her team. If she could just get to water she could use the water magic that was bestowed upon her when she broke Aquarius's key.

Turning to run toward the river, she heard the growl of the fire dragonslayer along with Erza's battle cry. A bolt of fear traveled her spine as doubt clouded her thinking process.

Just as she was about to lose her footing and fall she was picked up but a blue and white bolt of color. She breathed a sigh of relief as she heard Happy ask, "Lucy, what's going on, Natsu hit me and it really hurt, now they are chasing us!"

Lucy's heart broke a little more as she felt the small blue feline's tears fall on her head. "I don't know, I think they were bitten by something." Just as she was feeling more confident at having a better plan for escape with Happy, her stomach dropped as she experienced a sudden descent.

Happy cried out in pain as one of Erza's sword struck him in the head, blunt end first, knocking the poor exceed out.

Lucy hit the ground hard on her back, having the wind knocked out of her as she cradled the small unconscious blue fluff ball. The fast approach of her teammates spiked her fear as she tried to regain her breath.

Before she could turn over to scramble away she felt a piercing pain through her hand. She looked up into the blank stare of her friend and teammate Erza Scarlet as she impaled her sword into her hand.

Lucy screamed in pain just as she felt a brutal kick to the ribs before passing out from the shock of pain. The last thing she saw was Virgo open out of her gate before losing consciousness.

* * *

Cobra entered the Fairy Tail guild hall with his fellow Crime Sorciere teammates. He didn't have to use any of his magical abilities to know that Team Natsu was out on the road. The peaceful calm surrounding the guild was all they needed to know.

Half of Crime Sorciere was disappointed in finding out that they missed Team Natsu by a few weeks. Jellal wanted to see his beloved Erza and Meredy was excited to see Natsu and Lucy.

While Jellal went to go speak to Master Makarov regarding changes to Crime Sorciere, Cobra found himself trailing Midnight as they headed to the bar.

Cobra watched Mira behind the bar carefully, something was bothering her and being the nosey fucker that he was, he used his soul listening magic.

Team Natsu hadn't checked in, even though they were supposed to two weeks ago. Cobra thought nothing of it frankly, they were most likely off destroying some poor village. Figuring their mobile communication lacrima got destroyed in some tragic mishap involving cake or ice or fire.

Cobra's attention shifted as he heard the familiar and comforting soul of Kinana, he turned just in time to be nearly tackled off the chair and a hug that could rival her former snake form.

Kinana giggled as she heard a purr come from the big bad slayer and she kissed his cheek.

"God Damnit Kina" Cobra said in what was to be a vicious and intimidating tone but she knew there was no malice in his words only love and affection.

She smiled brightly, "What prompted this surprise visit?" Kinana could barely contain her excitement at seeing her best friend.

Just as Cobra was about to tell her the news of why Crime Sorciere was at Fairy Tail the doors burst open and the site of several Rune Knights came storming through the doors with Members of Team Natsu being helped into the guildhall.

Cobra just watched the flurry of action staying in his seat. He was never one for getting involved but he was certain that he was the first to note who was missing. Cobra could never ignore the melodic tune of Lucy Heartfilia's soul and it was clearly not among the chaotic sound of souls, shouting, and furniture scraping along the floor as people jumped to their feet in alarm.

He wasn't surprised to see the smallest slayer, Wendy rush toward the knights and direct them to the infirmary.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy came into consciousness, grogginess had overtaken her brain and it was in a haze she couldn't manage to clear up. She couldn't even feel the rest of her body as her cheek laid flush to a wooden surface, the only thing she knew clearly, was that she was lying face down.

She tried to move the limbs she knew she had, but the connection just wasn't there yet. Her body was unresponsive, but she did manage to open her eyes. Nothing quite registered as sensible as she looked at what was in front of her.

The room was dark and smelled of decay, she was surrounded by people that looked like they would enjoy doing her bodily harm, and maybe they did. For some unknown reason, she couldn't muster enough energy to care.

Lucy thought she was having an auditory hallucination when she heard a deep gravelly voice begin to sing a song she recognized. She could almost hear the instrumentals as she heard the familiar lyrics, "Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time".

She watched as the men around her ran out of her line of sight. Moments later, bodies were flying across the room and landing at unnatural angles. The sounds they made as they landed indicated they were not going to be getting up, ever.

"I feel alive and the world I'll turn it inside out, yeah" sang the masculine voice. Lucy enjoyed the baritone sound as she watched a colorful stream of smoke floating across her vision. She watched as it was inhaled by a man who looked like he killed kittens for fun. The man fell into a heaping convulsing pile, unnatural sounds coming from his body as foam and blood leaked from his orifices.

Her attention was redirected as someone slid to an abrupt stop in her direct line of sight. A fur-lined white coat filled her vision as it trailed to a stop just after the tall figure had. Something seemed familiar about this individual but she couldn't place it in her stupor. All she could see was a messy mop of maroon spikes, a long white coat, maroon pants, and black boots.

"And floating around in ecstasy," she heard the lyrics clearly so she knew it was coming from the vaguely familiar figure. She tried to remember who he was as she watched him, without even turning his head, his arm shot out and grabbed a faceless assailant's hand that came out of nowhere.

The handheld a knife, she watched as the familiar man turned the incoming arm in a way that she heard the crack of the bone-shattering. The hand with the knife was inverted at an awkward angle so that the assailant continued moving forward and impaled themselves on their own knife, falling lifeless at the feet of the maroon haired man.

"So don't stop me now don't stop me"

She heard a chuckle that proved he was enjoying what he was doing. He turned his head to the side to glance over his shoulder. She saw a singular violet eye look down at her as he sang, "'Cause I'm having a good time, having a good time".

She wanted to smile at the sight of him singing and killing, but could only focus on the feel of the grain in the wood underneath her lips. She felt a weighted sensation in her limbs as she attempted to move and she became aware of the cool air on her skin. She realized in a moment of clarity that she was in some kind of a drug-induced stupor.

That sliver of information woke up more of her clouded brain, she watched as the man turned his attention to more individuals running at him, the volume of his voice rising as he continued, "I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky".

As the group of individuals ran at him, he inhaled deeply and exhaled a plume of purple mist toward the group. They dropped instantly grasping at their throats. She heard the deep voice again, "Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity".

Lucy watched in fascination as the man sang the entirety of the song while he took out all the men that surrounded him. It was like watching a well-choreographed scene in a movie. The mystery man moved perfectly as he avoided bodies, weapons, and magic attacks.

She heard a deep snarl from behind her as she felt a pair of hands trace down her body and over her ass. She realized she was completely naked as she felt the pervert kneading his dirty, grimy hands on her body.

The naked blonde managed to let out an audible whimper which caused the maroon-haired man in the white coat to freeze instantly in place. He turned on his heel and in a blur, he was standing before her wielding a knife. She thought she should be panicking but she knew the knife wasn't for her. He slashed at the person who had been touching her and she felt warm drops touch her skin.

She watched as the violet-eyed man knelt in front of her, his full face now in her view. Drops of fresh blood dotted his face as he grinned wickedly. She saw the dimples that accentuated his bloodstained smile. At that moment she couldn't help but think how handsome he was.

The man's smile fell instantly, something akin to confusion graced his features and she immediately missed the dimples. Lucy refocused her attention on his whole face. The one violet eye looking at her intensely. The scar over his other eye looked so familiar, she tried to search her drug-addled brain.

Visions of a mechanical fish came to mind.

"That's it sweet-cheeks, you almost got it," he said to her and as his warm breath fanned over her face, it smelled sickly sweet. A thought of poison popped into her mind.

She watched him poison and kill all those around her and he enjoyed it and it all fell into place. She was staring into the single eye of the Poison Dragon Slayer, Cobra.

"Ding Ding Ding, you win the prize Sunshine," he said as he touched something just out of her range of vision. She felt a biting warmth as something released her hand. She felt it three more times before she realized she was fastened to the wooden table.

Her eyes closed again while she groaned uncomfortably. It felt like she had been on a tilt-a-whirl for hours on end. Lucy now understood how a spinning top feels as it starts to slow down and wobble.

Her body was moved, feeling as if it were as dead and lifeless as the bodies that surrounded her.  
She knew she was naked but she just didn't seem to care, let him see her in all her nude glory. She realized she should be embarrassed and offended that Cobra was seeing her sans clothing, but the indignation never came.

It was this thought that compelled Lucy to try and ask what was wrong with her. But what sounded like a perfectly coherent question in her mind came out as a garbled mess of "sh wha wro?"

"They shot you up with all kinds of nasty," Cobra responded, whatever they gave her, even her subconscious was a scattered mess. He had barely discerned what her question was amid her thoughts of nakedness. She let out a small sound of understanding.

Lucy then felt a weighted softness caress her skin as her eyes fluttered open to see the Poison Slayer. He was looking at her with a contorted look on his face that she almost placed as concern. She wondered where his coat went as she noticed he was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt.

Lucy shut her eyes again, they felt like they had anchors attached to them as she struggled to keep them open. She wanted to see what the slayer intended to do as he leaned over her, feeling the weight of his body was soothing and warm.

"I am taking you out of this hell hole babycakes, so just give in to the feeling, relax. Fighting the sleep will only make it worse." his voice was soft, rough and soothing.

She knew deep down he was right but odd questions started whirling through her mind. The blonde suddenly found herself concerned with the weather in Bosco and wondered if spiders named their hundreds of children. Her brain kept turning bizarre thoughts as she began to string a familiar tune in her head.

Cobra lifted the hazy headed woman, he was surprised as she nestled into him and let out a small hum of contentment as her soul asked for one thing clear as day, "Please, sing to me again."

He couldn't deny the beaten and battered woman in his arms, she needed rest and this may just be the only way to get that fucked up brain of her to take it easy.

Her soul provided him with the song through imagery. He chuckled at her selection, considering the circumstances.

Her soul conjured up a scene from a movie that he was all too familiar with, it was one of his top ten favorite films. He was surprised she ever saw it, considering how fair and innocent everyone billed her as. No way could she have seen such a violent and bizarre film.

He softly began to hum the tune, then started with the lyrics, "I'm singin' in the rain".

Halfway through the song she was sound asleep in his arms as he carried her back to the inn.


	3. Chapter 3

Black Sun was the name of the dark guild that Cobra was hunting, having a wide network of members scattered throughout Fiori. It should have been a team mission, but he was alone, just the way he liked it.

His personal mission was to destroy every single member for what they had done. None of his guildmates agreed with the vendetta mission but he didn't give a flying fuck and went out alone.

He had information and almost no one believed him, so fuck them. He would carry it all out on his own, he didn't need those fucking pansies. He would find Lucy Hearfilia no matter what.

The truth of the matter is that Cobra did care, he couldn't understand how they didn't believe him or how they could ignore the potential for it all to be true. He was angry, and anger was what fueled him, that and at least two pots of coffee a day.

He found that the small town of Blume was the closest town to the suspected main hall for Black Sun. Cobra grabbed a room at the very vacant inn in the center of town. It was there that he dumped off his pack and went on his hunt.

The citizens were more than well aware of the dark guild's nearby presence, but they felt helpless when their stores were vandalized or when they were attacked. Common knowledge was to not go out past dusk.

That is just what Cobra did, he steered clear of the streets and held to the alleyways as he waited for guild lackeys to stroll through town. He was not disappointed when he found two such lackeys pilfering a bakery.

Cobra was amused as they stuffed their pockets and faces with pastries and loaves of bread. "Really? These sad fuckers are absolute carb monsters." was his first impression of the buffoons.

He followed them through the woods to the north, after about an hour he heard the distinct resonant sound of the soul he could never ignore or forget. A feeling of contentedness settled over him upon hearing it, but the sad lilt threading through it had him concerned.

After about a half a night's walk he found the Black Sun Guild. He advanced around the perimeter of a decrepit looking building and listened in on what souls could be found. He counted a little more than thirty.

He snickered to himself as he remembered being told it was a suicide mission, but the Poison Dragon Slayer was a cocky bastard, and rightly so.

He dispatched of all the members and only walked away with a few bruises, the need for dry-cleaning, and one Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail.

Cobra found himself trudging through the center of town as people started their days. He ignored the disgusted looks and thoughts that occurred as he carried the beaten blonde draped only in his bloodied coat. What the fuck do they know, they should be thankful that guild was destroyed.

Arriving at his room, he laid the small blonde out on one of the beds and looked her over for any injuries that needed immediate treatment. Sadly, he realized he was much too late to treat most of what he found.

He applied ointment to her swollen eyes, then cleaned and dressed her open wounds. He then shifted his attention to cleaning her up as best he could.

He saw the dozens of slash marks that littered her back and shoulders and the marks the shackles left. All of it so familiar, he only grew angrier at what Lucy had endured. He gently dressed her in one of his long-sleeved thermal shirts and made sure she was comfortable. He also needed to address the cocktail of drugs coursing through her system.

There was only one effective method of removing the poison, at least this would be more enjoyable than when he helped the crew of asshats she called teammates. He carefully lifted her arm to look for the injection points. Once they were found he placed his mouth over them and punctured her skin. He proceeded to draw a few droplets of blood into his mouth to identify the poison.

He ignored how blissfully delicious it all was as he proceeded to remove the toxins from her body while simultaneously providing her with the antidote for it. It was an intimate scene if anyone had walked in.

So much so that if anyone did walk in, they would have met their demise. No one saw Cobra in his most natural and vulnerable state, ever. Well, except for Cubellios now known as Kinana.

He was a hard and cold bastard, just the way the tower and Brain made him, and that was the way he liked people seeing him. There were a few exceptions, those who were on the journey with him. They bore witness to his changes as they went through many of their own.

Once he was satisfied the toxins were out of her body, he got her settled and closed the blinds in the room to keep the room dark. He breathed a trace amount of a carefully mixed poison that would allow the blonde to sleep deeply without hurting her. It was the only way she would get the healing, restful sleep she needed.

After everything with Lucy was squared away he decided to shower. He washed away the violence of the day and watched the scalding hot pink water swirl down the drain. This was a double wash job after the night he had.

After his shower, he dressed and lay on his bed, he would never admit it but he also needed rest. He laid there contemplating how to proceed regarding Lucy. On the one hand, her teammates and their guild deserved to know, but on the other hand, they gave up. They gave up only eight months after her disappearance.

Cobra thought back to the day he sat in the guild and how he had helped remove the poison from the team, one of the side effects turned out to be a temporary bout of amnesia and the idiots couldn't remember what happened, who they were, or who Lucy Heartfilia was. This made it difficult to trace their steps, but efforts were made regardless. Other guilds had even participated in the hunt. However, no leads turned up.

About a month after her disappearance her team started regaining some of their memories, but none of them were even remotely helpful since the last thing they remembered was going about their separate tasks that day. No one believed Happy when they told them what they had done, after all, Happy always tended to expand the truth or lie. There was no way they could attack their precious Nakama so team Natsu went on their own search and rescue for Lucy but nothing turned up.

Then one random day about 4 months after her disappearance, Loke suddenly appeared. He was beyond distraught as he only had a moment to let everyone know that his master was on the brink of death. He wasn't even finished saying goodbye before his gate closed.

Everyone mourned, not wanting to accept the truth that Lucy was no longer with them. Some still held out hope that she could be alive, that it was some sort of misunderstanding. However, when Crime Sorciere came bearing Lucy's Celestial keys two months later, they accepted the truth. All except Cobra of course.

That was when Cobra went out on his own looking for the blonde or any information to her whereabouts. He knew she wasn't dead, deep down in the darkest parts of his very being he felt it. That was doubly confirmed when he heard chattering from a couple of ass-hats from Black Sun that they had a new plaything.

Cobra had gone back to Fairy Tail to let them know he had a substantial lead. When he walked into the guild he was shocked to discover they had given up and were moving on, mourning her loss. He told them she was alive, but they ignored him, believing he was just toying with their emotions. He even provided them with a lead, but they resolutely ignored him. They were so convinced that their light was gone and he was just a flagrant asshole.

Cobra had managed to confiscate the celestial gate keys when no one was paying attention. He couldn't believe all this bullshit. He was angry at everyone around him, for not believing him, for not believing in her, their precious light. As far as he was concerned everyone gave up on her. He would find her and bring her home. He would prove that he was right and they were a bunch of assholes.

He left that afternoon, being told that going after Black Sun by himself was a suicide mission and that he should let the dead rest, but he knew otherwise. No one was going to help, that much he expected.

He knew exactly what those goody-two-shoes around him were thinking. While one part of them was concerned, he knew that deep down in some of their souls, it would be no skin off their nose if they never saw him again. They would not mourn his loss on this designated "suicide mission".

Despite his shitty attitude, somewhere deep down he cared that they didn't give a shit.

Of course, the former members of the Oracion Seis would care if he ran into trouble. Even a few members of Fairy Tail would, maybe, but the ones that mattered most to Lucy would not be troubled by his demise.

These thoughts are why Cobra was hesitating in contacting the guild. After mulling it over, he decided that Lucy could make the choice.

He turned and watched as Lucy slept soundly. He contemplated how he had come to this very moment, how the injured woman's soul called to him and meant something to him. It was something he ignored all those years ago during Nirvana and then again when she was the sacrificial lamb of sorts.

He debated if she felt it, how her soul called to him despite never really interacting with each other. "She wanted to fucking smile at my sadistic glee while killing those bastards. She wasn't scared of me. She was high as a kite though." Whenever he was in her general vicinity the tone of her soul would change slightly, but her active thoughts never acknowledged it.

He wondered what life would be like right now if he never ignored the call.


	4. Chapter 4

Cobra was desperate, he didn't want to leave her side at least until she had woken up. It had been a little more than twenty-four hours since she went to sleep and he was starving.

He made a reluctant phone call and two hours later Angel appeared at his doorstep with three large pizzas, fries, and beer.

"Thank fuckin' god!" Cobra exclaimed as he swung open the door, all but ignoring Angel in favor grabbing the boxes out of her hand and turning for the kitchenette table.

"You're welcome, asshole," sass palpable as she said them. She proceeded to grab a slice herself and sat at the table, she failed to see the sleeping blonde on the other side of the divider wall.

"So, you've finally come to your senses?" her sultry voice asked, watching the slayer take a sip of his beer. She watched as his lips gently cradled the edge of the bottle, reminiscing about his lips on her own.

"Get that shit out of your head right now Sorano, that was years ago." he rolled his eye at her pouting face, "I don't want to tap that washed up snatch of yours."

Angel scowled at the ornery man in front of her, "Then why the fuck did you call me?" she asked.

"Because I miss my little sister and wanted to spend some quality time with her." the sickly sweet tone in his voice told her he was being snide.

"Fuck off Erik, what is the real reason." she knew he would never ask her for help unless he was at his wit's end.

Cobra sighed at the woman, "I found Lucy. She's in bad shape so I knocked her out to heal and I can't leave her when she is unconscious. I was really fuckin' hungry so I called you. Plus I figured you could look her over."

Sorano gasped at the words she heard. "You found the pretty-pretty princess?" Angel made an exaggerated expression of looking around, "Where are her beloved Nakama?" the sarcasm evident.

Cobra just shook his head, "Haven't notified everyone yet."

Angel didn't need further explanation, she had been there when Erik declared he was going to search for her and even Angel was dismayed at the reactions he received.

"Why should I look her over?" she asked with a hint of aggravation, still feeling the sting of rejection.

Cobra didn't want to say it out loud because he didn't want it to be a possibility, taking a swig of his beer and let Sorano in on her status. "I found her strapped to a table face down and naked."  
He eyed Sorano for a reaction but continued when he saw none, "As I said, she was in pretty bad shape and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything."

He gave Sorano a pointed look that implied what he didn't want to speak about it. She understood and responded with a scowl and a sigh, "fine".

Angel stood abruptly and looked down at the slayer still stuffing his face, "I'll go check on her." she then turned the corner into the bedroom area of the room.

She saw the blonde sleeping soundly and sat on the bed beside her. In a moment of tenderness that no one would ever see, Sorano tucked a strand of hair behind the blonde's ear. She pulled the covers down proceeded to inspect the blonde's body for any injuries that may have been missed.

The care and gentleness in her actions would have been moving had anyone witnessed it.

The former Oracion Seis teammates all held a special spot for Lucy in their hearts. She forgave them for their past transgressions. She had reached out to every one of them on an individual level and made it a point to get to know them, the only one who didn't oblige was Cobra.

He steered clear of her but he wasn't sure why, maybe he didn't want her forgiveness, or maybe he didn't want to reinforce the deeper feelings for the Celestial Maiden that he had been ignoring. When Sorano returned to the table, Cobra instantly read her soul to get any insight.

If it was one thing Angel hated, it was when Erik pried so she decided to hit him where it counted. "Awww they made her pretty just like you Erik." Angel cooed in the same sickly sweet voice Cobra used on her earlier. "She's perfect for you now!"

Cobra just glared at her and responded the only way he knew how to, "CUNT." He refrained from smacking her as his gut instinct told him to do.

Angel laughed the insult off, she expected nothing less from the man. After regaining her composure she grew serious, "Erik, anything could have happened to her. You didn't miss anything that needs immediate medical attention."

She sighed and stared at the remains of the pizza in her plate before she stood and went to leave, "It was good to see you," she said as she reached for the door handle, "She is gonna need support, so don't be a total asshole to her." was her final statement as she exited.

Cobra's exhaustion grew quickly now that Angel was gone. He forgot how taxing it was to be around her, despite being like a sister to him. He had to be on guard at all times for fear that she may misinterpret any of his given actions. He had to be "on" as they like to say, and he hated it with a passion.

That night he settled in and decided to start reading the novel that Lucy was writing before she disappeared. He had taken it out of the trash when her team cleaned out her belongings. He found himself angry at their actions, tossing out something she was pouring her soul into. It was like tossing her out.

He salvaged her novel along with her notes for it and a few other things he knew the blonde would be upset to have lost. Mostly they were mementos from her childhood and the sealed letters to her parents.

He also managed to salvage a few essential items like outfits of hers and a couple of personal care products before the team completely dismantled her apartment. Just a few things she would need for when he found her. Everything else could be replaced.

He was petty enough to allow the mementos of her team to stay in the trash. He did not give up on her the way her own team had.

The first thing Lucy heard were the birds, they sounded like they were chirping right in her ears. She groaned slightly as she turned toward their song, "Shut up" she grumbled in hopes that they would stop.

She snuggled her head down further into the soft pillow and pulled the blanket cuddling into herself further. She was surrounded by a fresh forest smell mixed with a hint of something almost like apricot, the scent was soothing to her senses.

Lucy had yet to regain full consciousness so she relaxed into the feeling of overwhelming comfort. Something was niggling at the back of her mind though, something she wanted to ignore.

The reality was about to come knocking.

Lucy went to turn over and that was when she realized she was sore everywhere, her brain quickly turning over why, and that was when it all came crashing back to her.

She jolted upright much to her body's dismay. She had no idea where she was or what was going to happen to her next. She took in her surroundings, only mildly relieved that she wasn't in a dark dungeon. She smelled coffee brewing and refused to believe her nightmare was over. This was just some small twist in the hell she had been living.

She heard movement nearby and she screeched and pulled the covers tighter to her as if they'd protect her, all while she scooted a little closer toward the window.

Cobra came around the corner with two cups of coffee in hand. Lucy 's eyes widened at his sudden appearance but he advanced slowly and cautiously toward his bed. He handed her a mug as he sat and she stared at him trying to determine if this was real or just a dream.

"You're not dreaming." He stated simply as she reached out tentatively to take the mug. Her fingers lightly gracing his and a small sweet hum sparked in her soul.

The sleeve of the black thermal she was wearing slid down her elevated arm to expose the scarring on her wrist. She automatically pulled the sleeve over the offending skin as she brought the mug to her lips. Inhaling deeply she felt an overwhelming joy as the first sip of real coffee washed away her fears that this wasn't real. "Mmmmmm" she hummed in appreciation and enjoyed the small moment.

Cobra sat silently drinking the black liquid and was gauging her reaction and mental state. It was not lost on him that she immediately covered her exposed wrist. He was also surprised at how easily she washed away some of her worries as she brought the mug to her lips.

They sat in silence for a small period of time, both enjoying their coffee before they had to face the truth to come.

She watched him and wondered what he was thinking. "That was you that killed all those dark guild members, I wasn't hallucinating?" She couldn't believe of all people in Earthland, Cobra was the one that rescued her from her nightmare.

He eyed her briefly monitoring her thoughts to see if she was afraid, she had indeed witnessed him happily killing all those assholes. That would be enough to send anyone running off to the Rune Knights.

"You bet your sweet ass it was," he responded. She should have feared him, of what he was capable of, but he sensed none of that from her. Instead, the only thing she focused on was the fact that he implied she had a sweet ass.

Lucy sipped her coffee contemplating his bombastic answer. "I do have a sweet ass don't I." she mentally replied to herself. Fear over the fact that he dispatched those unsavory men didn't even cross her mind.

She looked up at him, "You were singing Queen." He simply nodded his head in response.

She thought back to how he sounded in her poison addled state and felt liked his voice had helped to ground her as she was lost in the sea of insanity, "I like your singing" she smiled sheepishly as she said it. She was unsure of how he was going to react to her compliment. If it was even an appropriate thing to say at that moment, hell at this moment she wasn't even sure of her very existence let alone what was and was not proper.

Cobra gave the girl a sure as shit grin, "Thanks, your the only one still living that has ever heard me."

She laughed softly, knowing she should be having alarm bells going off in her brain. They just weren't chiming, "Maybe my alarms are broken. Maybe I am broken, that must be it, I've been gone for god knows how long. My mind has finally cracked."

Feeling a strong desire to ground herself, her instinct was to trail her hands over the keys that were not near her to check in with her spirits. That is when she panicked, realizing she didn't feel the connection to her keys.

Tears streamed down her face as she began to curl in on herself for comfort unaware of the concerned look on the Poison Slayer's face, or the fact that he went over to his pack and rifled around in it.

Moments later, Lucy heard the familiar jingle her keys made and she all but leaped out of the bed. She immediately lost footing and fell to the ground after realizing her legs just didn't want to work like she assumed they would.

Cobra rushed back over, kneeling in front of her in a manner of seconds, "Crazy woman." He guided her back up to the bed and handed her long-missing keys to her. "They were found and brought to Fairy Tail," he said curtly settling himself back on his bed.

Lucy felt like a hole in her heart had been filled simply by holding the keys close to her. The emotion of having them again overwhelmed her. The question begging to be asked though, "Why do you have them then?"

Again, she was left wondering why this man she hardly knew had been the one to rescue her. Never mind the fact that he had her keys. She wasn't even one hundred percent sure how long she had been gone either.

"Look, it's a long story that you aren't ready to hear. Just know that your keys were found and you probably shouldn't try and make your contracts until your magic is fully restored."

Lucy scowled at his less than pleasant bedside manner, "Aren't you a walk in the park." she stated.

"I've always been a ray of sunshine, sweetheart." the tone in his voice was playful. He watched as she grasped her keys close to her chest and tears rolled down her cheeks silently. She had a contented smile so he opted not to ruin her moment with shitty comments about her tears.

Her happy reunion turned sour though as she remembered more vividly the day they were lost to her.

She had been captured by members of Black Sun after they ambushed her team. Why they took her and left her team for dead she will never know since she was already passed out from the beating she received at the hands of her friends.

The bastards had been using her keys as leverage to keep her compliant with their requests. As they took their new pet back to their guild. Her connection to the keys was severed since she was wearing anti-magic shackles. Lucy had been watching and waiting for the right moment to take action in their travels.

The man who had her keys along with the keys to her magic canceling cuffs was a slimy buffoon. He always fell asleep when he was on duty watching the perimeter of their nightly camp set up.

One night she seized her opportunity but her attempt failed when she tripped on a tree root and fell, waking the man. Quickly realizing what she was going to do, he kicked her so hard the wind was knocked out of her.

The slimy man spent the rest of the night beating her to the point where she did technically die. There was a healer present that revived her but the damage was done.

Her contracts were severed, she felt them snap and it broke her heart instantly. That night she watched as they tossed her keys into the woods like garbage. Lucy took a huge blow to her optimism and hope that there was a way out of this hell she was living.

Cobra sat and watched as the blonde stared at her keys remembering the events of her losing them. He found himself irrationally upset over witnessing the events through her soul. He didn't recall killing the healer that revived her, but he was even more satisfied remembering how he dispatched the particular individual she had been thinking about.

He had cut the hands off the scumbag that had beaten her senseless, choked her to the point of death, and carelessly tossed her keys. He chuckled aloud as he remembered how the man cried like a little bitch on his knees in front of him before he kicked that asshole in the face, sending him into the pile of injured that were about to be poisoned.

"What's so funny?" Lucy asked, her voice laced with irritation at the idea of him mocking her.

"He cried like a squealing piggy when I severed the hands he used to beat and kill you with."  
Cobra watched Lucy's face as it scrunched up in disgust but her soul delighted in the knowledge that karma is a bitch and he deserved what he got. It was a direct contradiction but he found himself relieved that her soul did not reflect her face.

Lucy wasn't sure what to make of her situation. Here she was finding herself more than relieved that those assholes were never going to come for her or anyone else again. She wasn't surprised or horrified by Cobra's actions and the worst part of it, she didn't feel bad. She knew she should have felt that way, but she just didn't. What made her feel worse was the fact that she didn't feel anything about their deaths.

Cobra tried to alleviate her inner turmoil, "Accept it for what it is. You're not wrong and you're not right, you just are." He sighed and stood up, collecting her coffee cup from her, "Look, why don't you go soak in the tub and I will get us something to eat."

Lucy simply nodded her head, numbingly accepting his words and suggestion. She hadn't had a bath in god knows how long. She felt dirty and a nice hot soak would help her clear her mind.

Cobra watched as she slowly got to her feet and wobbled severely. "Sit your ass down and wait a minute." he bit out gruffly.

Lucy sat back down realizing she was not steady enough on her feet to get to the bathroom herself. She huffed at her inability to do this seemingly simple task for herself. She watched as Cobra went to his pack and pulled out a few bottles of what she recognized as her usual bathing products accompanied by her favorite yoga pants and t-shirt.

She was even more confused as to why this man had her clothes and bathing products.

He turned his attention to her, "I'll explain it all while we eat. Right now focus on getting cleaned up."

Cobra walked into the bathroom and set her bathing products by the tub as he started running the water. He looked at the bottles he had and grabbed the one that was some kind of bath oil. It smelled of citrus and floral which was pleasant to his nose so he poured a bit of it in for her.

He set up her products by the tub and laid her clothes on the counter. He made sure she had everything she would need within reach, including towels.

He walked back out, "Alright Weeble, you should be all set in there. I'll run out and grab something to eat."

Lucy simply nodded her head in understanding, she went to get back up but fell back right away from the unsteadiness. Cobra held his hand out to her so she could steady herself as she stood. She took his extended hand and he guided her slowly toward the bathroom.

She uttered a sheepish thank you and quickly closed the door. She was thankful for the patience he was showing her. She wasn't going to admit it ever, but she enjoyed the feeling of her hand in his. It was warm and gentle, it was safe.

Cobra noticed the hint of pink that graced her cheeks and he cracked a smile to himself. Then his demeanor abruptly changed as he wondered if it was a good idea to send her in without warning her about what her body had been through.

He aired on the side that she was a big girl, she lived the horror and so far her soul doesn't sound completely destroyed. Much to his surprise. He shook off his concern as he walked out the door to get them some food from the local market.


	5. Chapter 5

Lucy took in her surroundings. The tub was not going to be full for quite a few minutes so she decided to take a shower first and wash her hair of all the grime. She glanced at herself in the mirror and didn't recognize who she saw.

It shocked her to see her eyes, black and blue and bloodshot. All the scabs and cuts all over her face and the bruising on her cheekbones. She had almost no recollection of what happened to her face.

She remembered that they kept her heavily drugged and not wanting to deal with it at that moment, she ignored it all in favor of getting clean. She knew it would heal, so why start fussing over it right now. It happened, it's done.

Turning on the shower, she looked down at herself and realized she must have been wearing one of Cobra's shirts. As she pulled it over her head slowly as she felt every aching muscle. She paused, inhaling that soothing woodsy apricot smell as she continued removing his shirt; something akin to contentment or happiness settling over her being.

She knew she should look at herself, inspect the damage that had been done; she knew it was there but wasn't ready to face that reality yet. She chose to postpone the inevitable as she closed her eyes and entered the shower. It was one thing knowing it was all there, it was another thing entirely to see it. Stuffing the feelings of unease away, she began washing the filth of the past god-knows how long off of her sore and battered body.

After her quick shower, she toweled her hair dry and made her little turban to keep her wet locks out of her face. The tub was now a perfect level and she was surprised that Cobra had gotten the temperature just right, along with the soothing smell coming from the water.

She hissed as she stepped slowly into the tub and lowered herself in. Every mark on her skin stung angrily. The scalding water was turning her skin a pinkish hue after only a few moments of sitting.

She stared at her products on the side of the tub, she recalled exactly where they were in her bathroom at home. The image of Cobra going into her home and collecting her things was a jarring image. "Why was Cobra in my house? Was he alone or did someone let him in? Why would they let him in my house? How come no one from Fairy Tail is here?"

She forced her mind to quiet, these were all questions to ask the slayer, there was no point in dwelling over things she had no answers to. So she decided to close her eyes and relax. As she relaxed, she began to mull over what exactly had happened to her. She thought about how nice it felt to have her wrists or ankles no longer shackled.

Opening her eyes, she brought her wrists up to look at them and compare them to the ankles that were peeking out the other end of the tub. Tears started pricking her eyes as she examined the varying degrees of scarring. Different shades of purple and red decorated her wrists and ankles. As she peered through the water she noticed how her skin was decorated with them everywhere.

She knew then that her body would always look like this from now on. She would have the appearance of someone who was hacked, slashed, chained, and whipped. She would be the one that people would stare at, all of them knowing how she failed to protect herself. The one who would never get people to truly look her in the eyes again, too uncomfortable with the potential of what had happened to her.

They would see poor Lucy Heartfilia, the fragile girl who always needed rescuing. The pity she would find in their eyes would do nothing to help her feel any better.

Tears streamed down her face and she hugged her knees to her chest. She mourned who she used to see in the mirror. The confident girl who could use her feminine wiles in battle. The one who would be on the cover and spreads along with Mira Jane in Sorcerer's Weekly.

She knew logically that is not all of who she was, that her appearance was not even a tenth of the person she is. There was a confidence lost though and Lucy cried none-the-less, she couldn't get past the hurdle at that moment.

She looked at her arms trying to remember how some of the marks got there. Some she did remember but the rest were under whatever drug-induced haze she was in.

They served as constant reminders of the hell she was put through. Some of them will fade away, but the worst ones would stay with her forever. It was all proof that Black Sun loved torture and misery.

They did have healers in their guild but they weren't there to help you, they were just there to prolong your agony. The number of tools that were used on her too numerous to count, or that she could remember.

One thing she did remember clearly was how she was branded. One evening after she put up a good fight they decided to teach her a lesson by branding the soles of her feet. That was painful enough, but they weren't finished. They chained her up to a horse and forced her to walk on her sore branded feet for two days.

Remembering this moment opened up the flood gate of memories. She was so entrenched in reliving the nightmares that she didn't hear Cobra come back. Nor did she hear him approach the bathroom door.

Cobra stood outside the door, not sure of what to do. Her soul was cracking, he understood at that moment that it was stupid to think she would walk away from her experience unscathed. As much as he wanted to interrupt, she needed to process what had happened to her.

So he sat there on the floor outside the door and listened to her memories while she recalled some of her experiences. He needed to know what happened to her, he vowed that she would not suffer the way he and the rest of the Seis did. No way in hell would he allow it.

Lucy's thoughts droned on remembering how sadistic they were and how they took a lot of pleasure in their infliction of pain, some loved it so much that she was forced to witness some of their perversions first hand.

Cobra's jaw tightened as he began to hear the untold horrors of what they did. He felt a fucked-up sense of relief that she wasn't raped but he was disgusted at what they had put her through.

One particular instance that he could not unsee through her was the sexual acts committed as a result of her pain. One mage, in particular, got his rocks off while dragging his knife along her body. The more blood he saw the more compelled he was to whip it out in front of her and rub one out while he continued carving into her flesh. On occasion using her blood as a lubricant for his depraved act.

Cobra could not control the low growl that sprang from his core, he was glad he dispatched of those sick fucks.

As Lucy sat crying into the warm soothing waters the worse she began to feel. She was going down a rabbit hole of emotions and memories that she had locked away in an attempt to save her sanity.

She remembered that she was drugged on so many occasions but what happened during those moments she could not recall. All she knew was that when she came to herself again she had new bruises and fresh slices on her skin.

She was thankful, in a way, that there were portions she could not remember because what she did remember was horrible enough.

She wondered where Natsu, Gray, and Erza were. She prayed daily for someone to help. She cried out for her guild and no one listened. She dreamed about her rescues, she also had nightmares about being the slave of Black Sun forever.

She cried harder as she looked over her body. It was almost unrecognizable to her, she was damaged and broken. She began questioning her existence, why she was a magnet for all these horrible acts, as she sank below the water.

Cobra couldn't listen to her downward spiraling soul any longer if it continues on this path she may do something she would deeply regret.

He slowly got up, still reeling from all that he learned. As he knocked he noted that it had gotten eerily quiet, he didn't hear her sobs anymore. After knocking a second time he panicked, he didn't hear her breathing and her heart rate began slowing.

He tried the doorknob and was glad to find it unlocked, he threw the door open and immediately looked to the tub. His heart nearly broke in that instant.

He saw her blond mop of hair spread out on the surface of the water. Seconds later though, relief washed over him as he watched her head slowly emerged from the water. His worst fear was not, in fact, happening.

As Lucy brought her head up out of the water she was startled to see Cobra standing there staring at her with a look of fear and relief battling across his face.

Once again she found herself in an unusual predicament, she knew she should be afraid and embarrassed that a man was standing in the bathroom while she was naked, but she wasn't. Maybe because it was him and deep down she realized he already saw her, or maybe she was just numb to it all.

Cobra realized they were making eye contact and turned around abruptly, "Fuck! Sorry, I…"

"It's OK." Lucy all but whispered. She suspected why he was there, she may have felt broken but she knew she wouldn't go that far. "You were worried I was trying to kill myself," she stated in a voice that held almost no emotion.

Lucy sighed as she looked at the back of the tall maroon haired man, "I may be broken and damaged goods now but I still want to live." her voice held a melancholy tone to it. She was relieved to hear the emotion in her voice, albeit sad.

Cobra fidgeted slightly, "I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurting yourself I'm sorry to barge in here like an asshat."

Lucy let out a small snicker at the term asshat, she found amusement in it. She watched how tense his shoulders were and she realized how uncomfortable he was.

She looked at her wrists again and began to think he was uncomfortable with her appearance, all the marks and scars that showed how ugly she was now. No one would ever look at her normally anymore and tears began to silently slide down her cheek again. Not even Cobra wanted to look at her.

"Fuck, doll, your naked, I am waiting for you to yell and screech and kick my ass for bursting in on you." he grabbed the towel off the rack in front of him and turned around with his single eye closed.

Lucy was curious why he was concerned with her privacy, he was Cobra of Crime Sorciere, former Oracion Seis. He has a long sordid reputation of not giving a damn about people, yet here he was being gentlemanly enough not to look at her naked. She chuckled at the situation, pondering for a moment if this was an alternate universe she stumbled into.

She lifted herself out of the tub and took the towel wrapping it around herself. Looking down at her arms as she clutched the towel, she feared the moment he would open his eye and he would see how ugly her skin now was. She feared to see the disgust in his eye.

When she raised her head to tell the slayer he could open his eye, she was shocked to see he was already staring at her. Before she could react or say anything else he guided her to sit on the edge of the tub. Her eyes widened as he began lifting his shirt.

Cobra listened to her inner monologue as she had wrapped the towel around her, he understood what she felt. He would never be disgusted by her. He also understood that words couldn't provide the understanding he wanted to convey to her.

He sucked up his own issues and decided to show her that he knew what she was going through. He never allowed anyone except Kinana see him with his skin exposed not even those he grew up within the Tower. He hated the way people looked at him, how they pitied him, how they feared him for it. He did not want Lucy to suffer the same way.

Cobra thought to himself, "who the fuck knows, maybe we can help each other, like some hippie-dippie kumbaya shit." He removed his shirt and looked at the reaction in Lucy's eyes and her soul.

He wasn't surprised when he found understanding, but what he was surprised to find was her private appreciation of his physique. It was like she didn't even really see the scars, she just saw him.

Lucy watched as the slayer shifted uncomfortably while she traced his roadmap of scars around his body with her eyes. She felt an overwhelming appreciation for the man that stood before her. While he may have lived with this far longer than she had, she also realized the courage it took for him to share it with her.

What shocked her most though, was right above his left wrist, on the soft underside of his skin was a Fairy Tail insignia.

She stood slowly and grabbed his hand with the insignia on his arm. She examined his scarred wrists and traced her fingertips over this puckered and shiny skin. This is what her wrists will look like, but on him, it wasn't disfiguring or scary.

Cobra's spine quivered as he watched her caress his wrist, it was cathartic in a way to have her touching him and not feeling overwhelming disgust. He watched as her fingers moved further up and traced the Fairy Tail symbol. He knew the questions that were coming.

He gently pulled his arm away before she could ask anything and looked down at her, "You get dressed and I will get food ready." He turned and left the room, closing the door gently behind him. He paused and exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. "What the fuck is she doing to me? This is why I never went near her."

He went ahead into the kitchen and set their containers out, he knew she wanted a burger and fries and despite not knowing if her stomach could handle it. He also stopped and got some plain crackers and a few other stomachable snacks for her and himself.

Lucy stood stunned as Cobra walked out. She was so tired of questions and no answers. She got dressed and exited the bathroom to find the kitchenette table loaded with take-out containers. She could smell the fries and her mouth instantly watered.

She smiled as she sat down, "Thanks for the burger and fries. It's exactly what I wanted." She was going to ask how he knew, but she knew how silly that would sound.

"Damn right it would be a stupid question." Cobra chuckled as he sat down. He looked at her munching on a fry, "Ok sweetness, fire away."


	6. Chapter 6

Lucy stared at her burger not even knowing where to begin. Her mind was so clouded over with confusion she wasn't sure what she should even ask first. She decided to take a bite of her burger, hoping that she would find clarity in the greasy deliciousness of cheese, meat, and bacon.

Cobra watched and listened, and just decided to start talking, "You've been gone for about a year now." Cobra stated grimly as he watched her face frown.

"A year?" she shook her head, "It doesn't feel like that long. When did you join Fairy Tail?"

Cobra sighed as he thought back, "About the same amount of time that you've been gone. Midnight and I came in a few weeks after you left with Team Fire Fuck for that stupid mission."

"I am glad you joined Fairy Tail, although I figured we were the last place you would go." Lucy chewed thoughtfully, she found it odd since she never got a chance to ever connect with him about what happened years ago. Yet here he was with her and a part of Fairy Tail.

Cobra shifted uncomfortably, "Kinana was there and Midnight wanted to settle down a little so he came with me. The rest are still with Jellal and his crime-fighting crew."

Lucy nodded her understanding as she took another sloppy bite of burger. Cobra handed her a napkin so she could wipe away the dollop of mayo and barbeque that clung to the corner of her mouth. He couldn't help but smirk at the blonde.

"Thank you for saving my sorry ass from Black Sun." Lucy's tone was grateful but forlorn.

Cobra shook his head, "No need to thank me, Goldie, considering the history we have it's the least I could do."

"You never let me talk to you about that, I am not interested in digging up that whole mess now, but I forgave the lot of you a long time ago, including you." She said as she pointed a fry in his direction.

They continued dancing around the heavy questions that needed answering. Again, Lucy was trying to postpone the inevitable that needed to happen. Cobra knew he couldn't skirt the truth any longer and Lucy needed to know. He finished his last bite and grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth and toss it on the take out container. He sighed and looked at her as she watched him nervously.

Lucy knew something was eating at the man in front of her. She suspected it had to do with her and why her team was not here. She didn't want to know, she began to panic that maybe they were dead.

"Those fools aren't dead Bright Eyes," he saw the look of relief on her face. He paused a moment before continuing. "Look, I'll be blunt since that's the only way I know how to be. Fairy Tail thinks your dead. Loke had managed to appear at the guild just before you had your little flirt with death. Then when Jellal and his band of merry reformed criminals showed up with your keys that they found; that was it, the nail in your coffin."

He watched her a moment to gauge her reaction. She was shocked that they gave up on her so easily. They just accepted that she was dead and that was that. She looked up at Cobra and looked at him closely for a moment to see if it was the truth. She knew it was but she was hoping he was just lying to her.

"Then why did you come for me?" she asked feeling dejected. She glanced back down and fidgeted with her nails.

"I knew you were alive, I told them and they refused to accept it. I told them the leads that I had about Black Sun. They thought I was just fuckin' with them. No one believed me so I told them to go fuck themselves and I went out looking for you. They just figured I was heading toward my impending death going against Black Sun on my own."

Tears streamed down Lucy's face as she tried to sort the information he unloaded on her. She was happy they were alive but it was mixed with fear, resentment, and disbelief; "You're a member of Fairy Tail now and they ignored you? They chose to believe I was dead instead of hanging on to that hope that I could be alive. Even Natsu?"

"A few believed me but let's just say that my information was not well received. Even if some wanted or did believe it, they wouldn't go against their 'Nakama'." Cobra finished air quotes and a whiny voice when it came to the use of the word Nakama.

He couldn't hide his contempt for those who spouted so freely about Nakama but didn't even fully accept him and easily accepted the idea of Lucy's demise. It must have shown on his face since Lucy interrupted his internal fuming against the guild.

"Why does it make you so angry?" her question was innocent enough but she felt there was a deeper reason why he whipped himself up into such a frenzy.

"Why the fuck shouldn't it?" he all but yelled and curtailed his volume at the sight of her flinching. "I can hear what their souls think and they honest to god believed there was no saving you. They mourned and I had to watch them all while they wouldn't believe the truth." He stood up abruptly grabbing his trash along with hers as he went to throw it away.

"Those fuckers just tossed your stuff away like it was nothing, dismantled your apartment so fast it made my head spin. All the while no one listened to me. Even if I am a member of Fairy Tail, clearly they don't want me there." He all but growled out.

Lucy sniffled and looked at the aggravation held squarely in the shoulders of the slayer, "I want you there," she meant that through and through. She continued, "They had already lost a member of Fairy Tail and mourned her death and she returned. I don't know why they didn't keep that in mind. There was no way Natsu or Erza gave up on me."

Cobra chuckled humorlessly, "They were the ones that hoped deep down that the suicide part of my so-called suicide mission is successful. Believe all you want sweetheart, your team would rather see me dead than you come home." He bit the words out bitterly, immediately regretting them as he watched Lucy's gaze shift downward, tears streaming down her face at a faster rate than before.

He could practically hear her heartbreaking at the idea. The sound of her soul was haunting. He did not want for this conversation to happen this way but he was a grade-A asshole with no communication skills or bedside manners. He carded his hands through his maroon locks, "Look, they have every right and reason to not believe a word I said. I don't even blame those who believed me and didn't say a shittin' thing. I am just angry and being a dick about it. I shouldn't have said any of that to you, that is not how I wanted any of this to go." He leaned against the counter his arms folded across his chest.

Lucy looked past the anger and into the hurt that was evident to her, "You're a member of Fairy Tail, your Nakama now. Being angry about it doesn't make you a dick." she looked away and out the window. If it wasn't for his persistence she wouldn't be where she was at that moment. She smiled at the thought that he didn't lose hope.

"If it weren't for you Cobra, I would not be here right now. Thank you for not giving up on me." she smiled as her head turned back toward the man. She could see right through him at that moment, she saw the man he would have been and still could be.

Cobra shook his head unable to meet her eyes, "Don't thank me, I should have found you sooner." Cobra's words were laced with frustration. He pushed off the counter and made for the phone, "Look, we should probably contact the guild and let them know you're alive."

He didn't get to finish the thought before she interrupted, "No, not yet. Can we just have Wendy come and" she trailed off, she normally would have asked for her friends but she couldn't see past the pain they had inflicted on her or the fact that they didn't want Cobra to come back.

"I'll make sure someone I can trust escorts pipsqueak," Cobra assured Lucy and he went into the bedroom area to place the covert phone call back to the guild.

Lucy stared at the table in front of her trying to sort out her thoughts and reason with the irrational ones. Her mind working double time, she closed her eyes and felt every out of place joint and bone in her body and felt the heaviness of her limbs as her mind began to wander to how she obtained her injuries.

She hadn't been awake for more than 24 hours and she was already sick of reliving it. She began locking it all down in little boxes and containers and jars in her mind as her eyes slid shut.

As Cobra spoke on the phone to Midnight in the other room, he grew more and more worried about how she was coping or wasn't for that matter. He could hear her locking her shit up and that wasn't going to work out well in the end.

Cobra was in luck, Wendy, Midnight, and Bickslow were on a mission together and it would be easy to take a detour home to where they were. They could be there by nightfall and Midnight made his promise to Cobra that he would not tell them anything so they couldn't possibly alert any of the other guild members.

Hanging up the phone, Cobra thanked whatever higher power was listening and helping their situation along. He walked back into the kitchenette to pick up the now dozing blonde and put her back in the bed. He gently covered her and walked back into the kitchenette. He sat down and stared at the spot she had just occupied. He had no idea how to proceed because shit-heads like him aren't supposed to care. Yet here he was in new territory and unsure of how to be and what to do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note: Thank you for the reviews, they are very much appreciated and I love reading them. **

Cobra leaned against the brick wall of the Inn, lighting up a cigarette of his own making. A delightful blend of nutmeg and various dried nightshades. He needed something to calm the anxiety he was dealing with waiting for his three guildmates to show up.

He had no idea what to expect out of the little blue-haired slayer or eccentric seith mage, but the fact that it made him feel nervous just added to his agitation. How would they react to the news, but more importantly, why did he let this get to him in the first place? He had befriended them during his short time at the guild and the chaos of events surrounding the' Light of Fairy Tail' and they were his real supporters in addition to Midnight and Kinana. Deep in the back of his thoughts was a niggling that maybe they changed their minds. Maybe they didn't view him in the same regard as when he left. He had a seed of doubt in the absence of their presence but he chose to ignore it as best he could. Especially since after he left, Midnight, Bickslow, and Wendy started going on more and more jobs together, despite the protests of some of the fairies. They even took Kinana occasionally.

Cobra understood the awkward position they were all in, they silently agreed that they would support him as best they could without causing more chaos within' the guild. Cobra was OK with that, he knew that deep in their souls they meant everything they told him and for some fucked-up reason had well and truly liked him, faults and all.

Wendy saw right past his bullshit and wormed her way into a close standing with him first. He saw her for who she was and not what other people perceived her to be. Granted, his befriending of precious little Wendy Marvel caused quite the uproar. He was too tainted and evil to be seen conversing with Fairy Tail's sweetheart. Much to their chagrin Wendy herself put them in their places whenever the matter came up. Her sweet version of 'fuck off' was heard loud and clear to the other slayers especially. A dynamic non-dragon slayers didn't quite understand. One of her biggest problems with the guild was that they had one narrow-minded perception of who she was. The only other person who actually saw her was Bickslow.

Now Bickslow got through Cobra's defenses at an alarmingly fast rate. The poison slayer was disarmed by the whole fast friendship and couldn't get a real grasp of what exactly was going on with it. Cobra chalked it up to the fact that between the two of them they could hear and see souls, which kind of made them two pieces of a greater whole together. They both understood what truly lay at the heart of an individual.

Cobra was one of the rare few who got to see past the erratic facade of the Seith Mage. Not even the entirety of the Thunder Legion got to see the real Bickslow. The soul seer knew too much of the people around him to let himself be an open book. He felt it was best to hide behind the visor and a trumped-up crazy perverted version of who he was. Just as Cobra hid behind the crass thoughtless trumped-up version of an asshole.

However, there was one glaring difference between himself and his newfound friends. He enjoys ending the lives of those who he feels deserve it. Only Kinana and Midnight had understood it, Bickslow and Wendy understand it now, even if they didn't agree with it.

Cobra heard their souls before he saw them. Midnight ever so mellow, Wendy was thrumming with excitement, she already knew what this detour could mean. Bickslow, now that was an interesting dude to listen to. While his outward behavior and antics would lead one to believe that his soul sounds like a chaotic mix of EDM, in actuality, it was more like a deep orchestral bass sound. Now that Cobra heard him approaching and pairing it with Lucy's soul, they sounded like they were separate sections of an orchestra playing the same piece; she was woodwinds section and he was the percussion.

This observation did not sit well with the Poison Slayer.

As they approached in the distance he saw Wendy pick up speed with Carla yelling "Slow down child before you hurt yourself." Cobra took one more drag before tossing the cigarette to the ground exhaling out his nose as he put it out with his foot, "Fucking nag." he pushed himself off the building and walked toward the quickly approaching petite dragon slayer.

She threw her arms open and ran full speed into Cobra, forcing him to lift her into a hug that he should have known was coming. "Alright squirt, I know you're happy but this is a great fucking way to get poisoned." he snapped at Wendy.

She just smiled and winked without saying a word as Carla stupidly reprimanded the Poison Slayer, "Dare I say, watch your language around young Wendy you disrespectful dolt!"

Cobra snarled at the flying cat, "Watch it priss pants, or I'll pluck your self-righteous feathers one by one and shove them up your ass!"

Carla saw red and flew at the slayer but before she could reach him Wendy grabbed Carla's tail and yanked the angry feline toward herself. "Now Carla, please, I know what the word fuck is and what it means, so if you could please leave my brother alone that would make me very happy."

Cobra raised a brow at the small slayer, amused by the swear that fell off the girl's lips so effortlessly. He had to let her know though, "I am no one's brother twinkle toes." he could hear in her soul that she meant every word. There was a whole bunch of sass wrapped up in that cute little girl facade.

Wendy looked up at Cobra while holding her hand over Carla's mouth as she tried to rant about what was proper for a young lady, "You are a Poison Dragon Slayer, and I am a Sky Dragon Slayer, we may not be related by blood but we are in heritage." She smiled as she said it. Cobra knew it was pointless to argue with the small force of nature in front of him.

"I smell her all over you, so it's true?" Wendy's jubilant face fell slightly, "but she doesn't smell the same, can I please go see her." Cobra simply nodded and tossed his room key to Wendy as she hurriedly walked through the doors of the inn with an unhappy Carla in her hands.

Cobra refocused his attention on the other two approaching guildmates. Midnight was asleep on his little stupid magic fucking carpet and Bickslow, tall as ever, had his five little totems flying and buzzing about. Bickslow smiled with his carefree attitude, "'Sup man, how are things going."

Cobra could hear the hidden question. Letting out a deep sigh and all the anxiety it held, "She's inside sleeping but it ain't pretty." Bickslow walked up to the poison slayer and embraced him in a hug that held so many unspoken messages that Cobra didn't know what the fuck was happening.

Cobra relented and hugged the man in return. He thought it should feel stranger than it did, he thought he should feel uncomfortable but it was just the opposite. He could almost feel the relief Bickslow had running through him and it set the slayer at ease.

Breaking away from the Seith Mage he shook his head, "What the fuck is with all this hugging, you touchy-feely psychos" he turned on his heal talking over his shoulder, "Come on up, I booked you guys a room right next door we can talk there."

Bickslow just shook his head and laughed, "I missed you man, and you found Cosplayer." the totems floated around "Miss Cobra" "Sad Lucy" "Missed hissy pants" "Hissy Pants Confused".

Cobra whipped his head instantly toward the little totem that uttered those last words and he was disturbed to find that he could almost hear that one's soul, it was the totem Bickslow called Papa. He never noticed it before but he did know that he could not hear the souls that were housed in the totems. It was a topic he and the Seith mage had discussed one evening when the guild was particularly quiet.

Cobra glared and thought to himself, "No fucking way, how did this little shit head know that. My soul listening is not a two-way street."

The totem flew in closer to Cobra, "Two ways" "Two ways" Cobra glared at Bickslow who was looking in awe at the exchange and merely shrugged, "Beats the shit outta me man."

Cobra just sighed as they ascended the stairs, "Yet another fucking thing to add to the list."

Cobra showed Midnight and Bickslow to their room which connected to theirs with a door between the rooms. "I'm going to check on Wendy and Lucy," the slayer told the two as Bickslow instantly went and opened the fridge to find it completely empty. He turned to Cobra, "What the fuck man, it's empty. No beer no soda no nothing!" he chided with the slayer.

"Go get it yourself dipshit, get me something fruity." Cobra retorted

"More like something sour to match your attitude." Bickslow laughed as Cobra gave Bickslow the middle finger as he was walking out the door. He slammed it shut to the sound of Bickslows totems chanting "Sour Snake" "Sour Snake" and one-off tune "Fuck Off".

Cobra walked into his room quietly to check on Wendy and Lucy. He found Wendy's small frame spooning the battered blonde. He could see the tears streaming down Wendy's face and he internally cursed himself having to deal with all this touching bull shit.

He cleared his throat and the smaller slayer sat up. Her wide soulful eyes stared at the Poison Slayer, "I never could have imagined" was all she could manage to say before Carla started to pipe up, "Now Wendy, you'll never be a good healer if you get too emotional."

Cobra snarled at the white cat and stalked toward her. He was happy that the small twit had enough presence of mind to be scared.

"Your shitty advice isn't helping her either, now be a good pussy and go somewhere you are wanted."

Wendy tsked at the growling slayer, "She is only trying to help" she turned toward Carla, "can you please go make sure Bickslow gets something to eat that I actually like?" She smiled sweetly at her companion.

Carla just stuck her nose up and flew herself toward the door.

Cobra returned his attention to Wendy and watched as she hovered her hands over Lucy's sleeping frame.

Wendy sighed when she was done and looked at the Poison Slayer, he was staring back at her intently waiting for her to voice what he already heard in her soul.

"She shows many signs of previous healings throughout her body but they were subpar at best. I can fix most of it but some of it we will have to do the hard way. I may even be able to clear up some of her more recent scars."

Cobra sat down on the opposite bed, his shoulder sagged at the prospect that Lucy's pain was not over yet. "What do you mean by the hard way?"

Wendy cringed at the thought of what needed to be done, "She shows heavy damage in her right ankle and we will need to re-break it so I can heal it properly. Same issue with her left elbow."

Cobra nodded his head curtly. He struggled with the next question he wanted to ask. He was satisfied with Angel's previous assessment but now that Wendy was here he could get a more definitive answer.

Wendy watched Cobra's stoney mask falter as he seemed to struggle with something. She easily connected the dots and decided to make the assumption and answer the unasked question. She cleared her throat to get the slayer's attention, "Cobra, she has no indications of any trauma in that way." She finished her sentence with a look that conveyed she knew what he was concerned about.

He felt like a weight was lifted, but he wasn't foolish enough to think she was not violated in other despicable and depraved ways.

Cobra sighed and thanked the small healer. "Lucy has a long road to recovery ahead of her," he stated as he got up. "Do you need anything?" He knew the answer but he extended the courtesy of asking her.

"No, I am going to work on some of the easier repairs and the bruising so she can rest more comfortably." Wendy paused and looked at the Poison Slayer, "This will take a few days. We need to work out some details."

Cobra simply nodded as he left the Wendy to her work on the sleeping Celestial mage.


	8. Chapter 8

Cobra passed the prim little white cat in the hallway, her arms full of take-out food, they barely acknowledged each other on the way to their respective destinations. The small cat had a whole lot of nothing nice to say floating around in her mind when it came to the company that Wendy was keeping and all it did was cause Cobra to growl under his breath at the cat.

Bickslow was filling the mini-fridge with a few choice beverages when the Poison Slayer came into the room. Bickslow immediately grabbed an Elderflower infused beverage and tossed it toward the slayer. He grabbed one more for Midnight and a caffeine-infused dark beer for himself. They unceremoniously sat themselves on the bed, Bickslow and Cobra facing each other with Midnight laying on his side just behind Bickslow.

The food had already been laid out by Midnight for them to eat while they discuss their current situation. Cobra idly wondered if Midnight ever stayed vertical for more than a few hours at a time as he watched him awkwardly trying to feed himself from the lazy position. Midnight broke the silence first, "How is she doing Cobra?"

Cobra opened his drink and took a long slow sip. Arranging what he wanted to say in his head. "She's been through a lot, like tower level shit. Although not quite to the extent of Sorano." Cobra stared down at the bottle in his hands.

Midnight nodded his head in understanding, "how is she adjusting so far?"

"In the short amount of time she's been here? She is barely holding her shit together, she is locking it down faster than I can keep up with." Cobra said as he picked up a fry and popped it in his mouth.

Bickslow shook his head, "I don't know what happened to you guys in the tower, but there is no way someone can ignore a year's worth of being held captive without cracking a little."

Midnight interjected before Cobra could, "The tower was a living nightmare, those of us who survived are still struggling to deal with what happened."

Bickslow looked down over to the reflector mage with a solemn expression, "I hear ya man. I didn't have the tower but we all have our own living nightmares to reconcile." Bickslow paused a moment thinking back to his past before finding Laxus and Fairy Tail.

Cobra picked up on a deep low thrumming base threading through the seith mage's soul. It was a haunting sound that he heard occasionally when Bickslow got lost in thought. Curiosity piqued, he vowed to himself that one day he would find out what the seemingly care-free mage could have experienced that rivaled his past the tower and Brain's control over him.

Bickslow shook off his brief rumination and turned to Cobra, "So what do you know so far?"

"She has foggy recollections of most of what happened to her. They kept her in a drugged state for a lot of the time she was there. Memories are triggering at random it seems, the pieces she remembers involve a lot of knife play and old school torture techniques. They had a sorry excuse of a healer mage in the guild but he only did the bare minimum to keep her alive. Apparently it was a shitty job at that according to Wendy."

Cobra signed and glanced at Bickslow who showed signs of an eerie understanding. "Her leg and feet are in bad shape, they had branded her feet and had her walk on the wounds for a few days. She can't walk steadily at all. Wendy confirmed that she wasn't raped outright, but there were a few sick bastards that did shit to her that I couldn't even dream up." Cobra growled out the end of his sentence through gritted teeth.

Cobra observed the Seith mage tighten his grip on the bottle he held, an eerie green aura coming off of him. Something about his reaction got under his skin slightly. "Cool your jets Bix, she's here now, and I didn't leave anyone alive."

Cobra smiled a grim and sadistic smile at the memories of how he dispatched the assholes. Papa took this moment to fly from his quiet position in the other room to float around Cobra's head signing, "so much fun, so much fun" Cobra swatted the totem away as if it were a fly buzzing in his face.

Bickslows voice trembled with anger, "You damn well better have man, because if anyone survived they will certainly wish they were dead if they run into me." Bickslow was not the killer Cobra was. Bickslow was remorseful over the lives he took, all of which had been accidental at best. In this case, however, he was hard-pressed to keep his emotions in check.

Cobra smiled an even broader one at Bickslow as he heard what his soul wanted to do to anyone that hurt his Cosplayer, "I hope you let me watch if that is ever the case." The words had a flirtatious lilt to them that surprised Cobra more than the others in the room. Papa flew around his master's head repeating "Sour snake likes to watch, Daddy will let him if he is lucky".

Bickslow glared at the totem who seemed to be the only one active at the moment, "Seriously Papa go take a nap before I make you take one."

The small totem slowly bobbed away, "you guys are no fun right now".

Bickslow looked at Cobra to gauge his reaction, he felt apprehensive over what was happening with Papa when it came to the Poison Slayer. Cobra just chuckled at the insanity of it all, "Whatever, we are all batshit crazy. Right now I am more worried about Sunshine than that little shit."

Bickslow found himself mildly relieved that the Poison Slayer didn't take offense at his oldest soul's antics. He just hoped none of his other souls would act as strangely as Papa. He knew they had wills of their own and they did show silent favoritism to individuals; like Popo did with Lucy and Pippi with Wendy but Papa and Cobra were an enigma. His souls shouldn't hear others, let alone react individually to them without his influence fueling them.

Shaking off the mystery, Bickslow asked, "So, what are we doing?"

Midnight piped up, "From the sound of things, Lucy is in no shape to travel all the way back to Magnolia, and this Inn is not exactly cheap enough for us to stay for an undetermined amount of time."

They both looked at Cobra for an answer, "Why the fuck do I have to figure this out?"

Bickslow shrugged his shoulders, "Look, Midnight is right, we can't stay at this inn and Magnolia is too far away for her to travel right now. Everyone thinks she is dead and I don't know if she is stable enough to deal with their shit."

Cobra nodded his head in agreement, "The pipsqueak will need more than a few sessions to help Lucy heal, so we need to be somewhere more comfortable than here while she recovers."

Bickslow knew that Freed had a safe house about a day's travel from where they were currently. He knew how to get there and knew how to get through the enchantment locks that Freed set up.

"Sounds good to me man, let's head out in the morning," Cobra responded to Bickslow's unspoken idea.

Midnight rolled his eyes at Cobra, "Hey asshole, can you please enlighten me to what you just agreed to?"

"Whatever sleeping beauty, Freed has a safe house in the northern woods, we are heading there," Cobra replied with a hint of snark in his voice. He was half expecting a retort from the reflector mage but he was unsurprised to see him almost instantly fast asleep.

Bickslow chuckled and stood up collecting the emptied food containers and drinks bringing them to the small sink. Cobra also stood and followed him. Listening to the eccentric mage's thoughts about the blonde spiral out of control, he clasped a hand to Bickslow's shoulder, "She'll be alright man you can see her in the morning."

Bickslow turned to Cobra, "It's been hell back at home man, I am so fuckin' happy you found her and that she is alive man."

In a moment of overwhelming emotion, Bickslow felt his eyes sting with tears. They were tears of relief and happiness but also of worry and agitation and fear. He quickly tried to adjust his visor to hide the evidence of his self-perceived weakness.

Cobra didn't know what possessed himself but he slapped away Bickslow's hand from his visor in a moment of anger. The poison slayer reached for the ridiculous visor and took it off Bickslow's face none too gently, he looked into a set of eyes the same color as his own hair and saw an overwhelming range of emotions filter through his eyes.

"You go ahead an hide this shit from Laxus and the guild but you're not with them right now. So fuck them, they are a bunch of fuckin' emotionally constipated pussies who can't handle the real shit life deals you." Cobra stopped his spiel mid-thought as he looked at Bickslow.

Bickslow's thoughts had changed to something that quite frankly scared the poison slayer, the same type of thoughts that Lucy all those years ago that had scared the shit out of him then and still does now. Cobra shoved the visor into the seith mage's hands and turned toward the door.

"Get some fuckin' sleep man" and with those words, he closed the door behind him leaving a surprised Bickslow behind.

Cobra paused with his back to the door and took a moment to compose himself before heading back to his room.

Entering the room he heard the soft melodic breathing of the blue-haired slayer. He was relieved to find her curled up in a tight little ball with her prissy little exceed, both sleeping soundly. He was not in the mood anymore for human interaction. He had enough and was ready to ignore it all for a few hours. He realized they were asleep in his bed and let out a small puff of air through his nose as he instantly conceded to the idea of sleeping in his own bed.

Switching his attention to the blonde-haired woman in the opposite bed he felt her agitation as she slept. A light sheen of sweat on her upper lip and brow with her eyes shut tightly; paired with labored breathing were all indications that she was having a nightmare. Cobra relaxed his magic to flow freely about the room, allowing him to listen to what was happening in Lucy's dream. He received sounds and images like polaroid snapshots of scattered events over the past year. No particular order to them but each one depicting excruciating pain and anguish.

As if in a trance, he found himself sitting beside her as she breathed erratically, her actions making more sense as he experienced her nightmare in real-time with her. He laid a gentle hand on her head wiping away her sweaty matted blond locks from her forehead, a snapshot of himself and her rescue flitted through her mind.

He nestled next to the blonde crossing his legs and shutting his eyes to ride the nightmares with her. It was a while before he noticed it, but at some point, he started humming quietly to her. He now watched as her nightmares morphed into various vignettes before the rescue. He fell asleep laying next to her, allowing her enough space to toss and turn freely without disturbing him.


	9. Chapter 9

Wendy woke first the following morning, she stretched and yawned as her exceed rolled over curling further into the pillows. She immediately looked over to Lucy to find that she was wrapped up tightly in blankets and snuggling into Cobra's side. The small slayer smiled at the scene as she got up to go to the bathroom. By the time Wendy was finished, she exited the bathroom to see Lucy sitting up with a dusting of pink covering her gaunt cheeks.

As Lucy saw Wendy emerge from the bathroom she smiled broadly at her, feeling the tightened muscles in her face from their lack of use. She tried to stand quickly to greet her but stumbled to the side leaning onto the other bed for support.

Wendy quickened her steps toward the blonde and helped her sit on the bed she was leaning on. The two women embraced tightly physically expressing just how much they missed each other. Their eyes glistened with unshed tears of joy as they sat back and looked at each other.

Before either one of them could say anything, they heard a snorting growl coming from the other bed and they both looked over at the sleeping Poison Slayer. He was contorted into the most awkward position with his head tilted back and mouth wide open, a hint of drool sliding down the side of his face. His arms crossed securely over his chest.

The girls looked back at each other, resisting the urge to laugh at the awkwardly endearing sight of the sleeping slayer. Wendy cracked a smile first and Lucy followed with a heartfelt laugh. It was like the floodgates opened for the pair, giggling as they looked toward the slayer. Wendy spoke first, "He looks kinda like a vampire with his arms crossed like that." Lucy laughed harder as she instantly thought of the old films depicting vampires, "He kinda looks like Nosfurato like that!"

Their laughter and whisper-shouting woke the slayer but before acknowledging them he bathed in the delightful sound of the girl's pleasure at his expense. It was sound he didn't know he needed to hear until he heard it. He let it go on a few more seconds before using his arm to wipe away the drool, "Fuck you," he growled out which only made the girls giggle harder.

Lucy reveled in the light-hearted feeling, it was something she hadn't had in so long and it felt so good sitting next to Wendy and laughing like they used to. She experienced a moment of true peace; like the events of the last year had never happened; like she hadn't missed a moment in the small slayer's life.

Cobra smiled briefly hearing a small delightful spark in the soul of the woman he felt a deep connection to.

Wendy assessed Lucy again now that she was up and they sat quietly discussing what needed to happen over the next few weeks of her recovery. All the while Cobra busied himself packing up and preparing to head out, not missing one word the two girls shared between them. He was concerned that Lucy was taking the news of her injuries with almost no reaction, externally or internally.

It wasn't missed by Lucy that Cobra appeared to be packing, she felt a sudden icy wave of panic rush through her veins. It didn't occur to her that he would be leaving, her sense of time was lost a long time ago. Just the thought of him not being there, of him leaving her, left her with a sickening weight in her stomach.

He tried to ignore her visceral reaction to the very thought of leaving her high and dry. He didn't want her to be attached, she was in a fragile mentals state and the last thing he wanted was to be attached to an equally unstable asshole. However, he knew deep down; deeper than he was ever willing to listen that it was already a hopeless cause, on both their parts. "Chillax Sweetness, we are heading out of this money pit and moving on to something more comfortable to get you fixed up."

He heard the explosion of internal objections that the women were suddenly piecing together in their minds. He cut off their thoughts, "No we are not going back to the guild, or Magnolia. No, they don't know anything yet. We aren't going far, Freed has safe about a day's journey and no Lucy we don't expect you to walk." Cobra finally inhaled.

Wendy smiled at the maroon haired man who towered over her. "Great, then all we need to do is get everyone ready and grab breakfast."

It was this moment that Carla had awoken and decided to spout her divine wisdom, "Wendy, you need to make sure you eat a healthy breakfast if you are going to be using all your energy to heal Lucy." her prim voice grating on Cobra's nerves. He hated the prim and properness she tried to exude and the implication in her words that Wendy couldn't take care of herself. He merely let out a menacing grunt as he glared at the cat.

Wendy smiled sweetly to Carla, "Of course I will Carla, I will be fine."

Carla just looked at her blue-haired companion, "I will run to the market and get some fresh fruits and snacks."

Lucy watched the interaction and felt a pang of sadness, she wasn't entirely sure what made her sad about it. Maybe it was witnessing the normalcy of the whole exchange that played out before her. She longed to feel that sense of normalcy again, but to have the mundane scene happen in front of her made it feel so foreign. She didn't feel normal anymore. She wasn't even sure how or what she should feel.

Lucy looked on with a vacant stare as she watched the small blue-haired healer float about the room preparing herself to leave. She was envious of how effortless Wendy made it look, how easy it came to her to just do those idle tasks about the room like checking her belongings in her bag or grabbing a brush to brush her hair.

Lucy couldn't help but chastise herself for being incapable of brushing her own hair, being too weak and in pain to complete such a simple task. She continued following the negative threads of thoughts weaving their way through her mind. She only felt the tears streaming down her face when the bed dipped behind her under the weight of someone sitting. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, relaxing into the unique scent that was Cobra. She didn't flinch when she felt his hands grab part of her hair and brush the tangled nest that was her hair.

She couldn't bring herself to feel indignant over the action and was just thankful for his uncharacteristic actions. She thanked him silently in her mind. He said nothing as he continued to gently detangle her hair.

Wendy had emerged from the kitchenette area and said nothing as she momentarily watched Cobra brush Lucy's hair. She smiled at Cobra as she went on about the room double-checking to make sure nothing was left behind when they departed. Cobra's face was an emotionless mask that gave no hint to how he truly felt. They all shared the silent understanding that this was a private moment never to be spoken of.

Lucy's mood had improved greatly after she had her hair into a ponytail and Wendy's help getting freshened up and dressed. Having a better frame of mind allowed her thinking to clear up a bit. She realized that Wendy did not travel here alone and she was truly curious who in the guild had escorted Wendy, although she did have her hopes on who was next door.

"Wendy, who else is with you?" Lucy asked apprehensively.

The sky maiden smiled broadly, "Bickslow, Midnight, and I were on a job when Cobra called us to take a detour to see him."

Lucy displayed a warm genuine smile at the information that one of her close friends was with them. Granted, it was kind of a secret friendship with only the present company aware of it.

Lucy had befriended Bickslow at some random point in the past, after a few times of sitting together at the guild talking, their respective teams lost their respective shits over the friendly development between the two mages. Each team has its own set of unreasonable issues with the blooming friendship that frustrated Lucy and Bickslow to no end. In an effort to allay the potential disaster they decided to hide their friendship.

They much preferred their friendship under the radar due to the peculiar antics and quirks of their fellow guildmates. While they went through a few extra hassles to spend time together, it turned out to be peaceful times that allowed them to make a more meaningful connection as friends.

Cobra listened in on the blonde's thoughts; he knew they had a secret friendship but hearing the blonde think about the man in the room next door made him feel a sliver of jealousy. He wasn't sure if he was sour on the idea that her attention was on Bickslow, or that Bickslow's attention was on her. Either way, it didn't matter because his feelings on the matter were fractured in so many directions that he grew agitated with the whole concept of them being friends before he entered the picture almost a year ago.

At that moment he felt the need to escape and be alone, using the excuse of checking out with the desk downstairs he quietly walked out of the room.

Wendy and Lucy briefly acknowledged the slayer's exit while they continued talking. Lucy was inquiring about how her mission had gone and how it as working with Midnight and Bickslow.

Wendy was dancing around the details since it was shed light on the fact that a lot has changed at the guild. She didn't want to upset Lucy in any unnecessary way but things were not the same as when she disappeared. The blue-haired slayer knew from the brief time with Lucy already that the recovering celestial mage may not be ready to deal with the guild.

Lucy let Wendy finish her sentence before she asked her what she wanted to know, "So, how are things really back in Magnolia?"


	10. Chapter 10

Wendy silently cursed herself for thinking the blonde wouldn't pick up on her roundabout answers. The sky maiden's mind raced through all the changes, "A lot of things have changed since you've been gone, even since Cobra left." Wendy couldn't suppress her sad tone. She had difficulty looking at the blonde, "It's not the same as it was."

The first thing that came to mind were the events that led to the creation of her little team. The Thunder Legion was fractured, with Laxus now the guild master it only made sense that he was not actively on missions. Even before that change happened, it all started when Cobra showed up. As a whole, they accepted him as a member of the guild but there was only a small handful that had been truly welcoming of the reformed criminal. Bickslow was one of those people and since he was on the fringes of the guild to begin with, he only ended up more alienated as a result of his newfound friendship. Never mind everything else that happened with the discovery of Lucy's apparent death.

Lucy's disappearance created a rift among everyone. She truly was the light and glue of Fairy Tail. Team Natsu had been oddly passive about their missing teammate, everyone was angry and looking for someone to blame and that fell onto the shoulders of Cobra and by defacto Bickslow. The only reason Bickslow didn't leave was because of Midnight and herself. To top it all off there were so many new people in the guild and some of them just didn't sit right with her.

Wendy smelled her team-mates coming before the knock came and she was thanking every deity she could think of for the save. She paused as if thinking about where to start and then miraculously, there was a knock at the door. She wasted no time in answering the door and evading the whole conversation.

Bickslow's babies came whizzing into the room first Popo immediately finding Lucy, the others circling Wendy as she giggled. Popo floated in front of Lucy chanting "Popo miss Cosplayer" in a sad warbly voice, Lucy reached for the small totem and clutched it to her chest. "Aww Popo, I missed you too." Lucy knew the totem couldn't feel the strength of her hug but Lucy held on tightly for her own comfort.

Bickslow just stood watching the interaction silently from just inside the door. He felt so much from his small spirit, he knew how much the soul that was Popo had missed her and he was happy to see them connecting again. He watched in awe as the woman he had become so close to was sitting there, alive. Not that he doubted Cobra's knowledge that she was alive, he just hadn't seen her in so long.

Even though he had been warned ahead of time he was still unnerved to see the state she was in. He wanted to do nothing more than rush to her and wrap her up into himself. Taking a more cautious approach he hesitated in following his instinct. He was afraid of scaring her or force her into something she wasn't ready for, even if it was as simple as a greeting.

Bickslow's eyes caught a glimpse of the intense scarring on her wrist as she hugged the totem and any restraint that was left, broke. He slowly walked toward her, unsure of what to say or how to act. He felt so self-conscious, a feeling he had been all too familiar with since she disappeared. He was afraid, afraid of her wrath, afraid of her rejection, afraid of how broken she potentially was. Bickslow had a deep apprehensive knot in the pit of his stomach at the realization that he was unable to help her in her most dire time and therefore irreparably damaged their relationship.

Lucy looked up as Bickslow approached her, she could feel the insecurity coming off of him, like thick swells in a turbulent ocean. She hugged the totem tightly to her chest as she glanced down realizing her shirt had ridden up her arm, exposing some of her marred wrists. She quickly adjusted the sleeve to hide the offensive flesh, assuming that was what bothered Bickslow. She raised her eyes to the man and uttered a whispered apology. It was this apology that severed the distance between them.

Bickslow couldn't believe what he had just heard, he wondered what on Earthland could she possibly be sorry for. He kneeled in front of her, but unlike in the past, he didn't lunge at her in a rambunctious show of affection or even remove his visor. In the time she had been gone, he had reverted to most of his old ways. He gently grabbed one of her hands, he wanted to reach out and embrace her but he didn't feel confident enough to do that. He regretted not being there for her when she needed him the most. He quietly reprimanded her, "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. I'm the one who should be apologizing," he squeezed her hand lightly, "I am the one who is sorry, I'm sorry for not finding you, for going along with the guild instead of supporting Cobra. I am sorry for being a chicken shit and failing my Cosplayer."

She squeezed his hand in return, "Bickslow, there isn't a reason for you to be sorry. You are not a chicken shit and we both know it, you just did what you thought was best given the circumstances." she took her free hand and poked the metal visor on his face, "What gives Bix?" he tried to withdraw from her but she refused to let go.

"I umm, well, you know what happens when I have trouble keeping shit in-check. Everyone started getting worried, afraid to look at me you know?" he responded the unease heavy in his voice.

Lucy did know, she was his main advocator for removing the visor around his friends and family of Fairy Tail. Seith magic was a misunderstood magic, people made quick assumptions about what he could and could not do.

It took some convincing but he had started removing the visor in the guild and with his team and friends. There was no reason to hide his eyes from anyone, they were just different than anyone else's. They were a deep maroon color normally and when he was overly emotive they glowed a greenish hue that people found alarming. When he was viewing souls his eyes shifted into deep emerald green. These changes are what made people fear his magic.

Lucy loved what his eyes could do, she enjoyed being able to look into them and have him be comfortable with it instead of trying to connect with him through that stupid visor. There was nothing to fear or be scared of and she proved that lesson by requiring that he remove it in her presence. As time went on and more people gained confidence that he wasn't going to steal their souls or possess them he would take it off the second he entered the guild.

Forgetting herself at that moment, she placed Popo in her lap and removed Bickslow's visor, she tossed it across the room in anger. Anger at the fact that they rejected Bickslow as well as Cobra, or at least that is how she perceived it all. In a voice that was strong and confident she looked Bickslow in the eyes, "Fuck them Bix, that is a part of who you are and if they can't get past it, if they went back to treating you like they did before then they don't deserve to see your eyes."

Bickslow moved to sit next to Lucy on the bed and pulled her into a tight embrace, "Goddamn Cosplayer, I missed you so fuckin' much."

The brief glimpse of Lucy's old self quickly faded and she cracked, she began to cry, hard convulsing sobs, she realized how much she missed both Bickslow and Wendy. Feeling shame for displaying such a lack of self-control, especially having not seen them for so long, she knew she had to stop. Tears weren't going to fix or help anything so she decided it was time to lock them away and move on.

Bickslow tensed as Lucy's sobbing stopped on a dime. She let out one last sniffle and was silently pulling away from the embrace, wiping the remaining tears. In a small voice she looked to the mages in the room, and abruptly changing the subject she asked. "How do we plan on getting to our new destinations?"

Cobra mentioned she was locking her issues down fast but Bickslow was shocked at just how fast. He looked over at Wendy and Midnight, he didn't need soul listening magic to know they were thinking exactly what he was thinking. Bickslow made a mental note to always take Cobra at his word, the poison slayer had shown, on too many occasions, that he was dead on with the information he shared and then some.

He wondered where Cobra had gone, he was surprised not to see him hovering over the blonde. It didn't escape him that the ornery slayer had grown a strong attachment to Lucy. Most people did but Bickslow felt like Cobra's was something deeper. He was curious how it could have even developed considering they spent zero time together. To the best of his knowledge, the last time he saw her was in a random passing of teams on the road while on a mission. It was a mystery and he knew that he would be peeking at Cobra's soul soon enough to see what the deal was and to also see if it is as beautiful as he imagines it would be. Bickslow pushed the thoughts off because right now that was not the priority. His cosplayer needed him and he needed her more than he realized.

Midnight lazily answered Lucy's question, "I believe we have no choice but to walk, between Cobra, Bickslow, and myself I would imagine we would assist you in walking and carry you when you can no longer manage."

Lucy nodded her acknowledgment, she hadn't seen Midnight in a long time and was apprehensive on how to be around him. She understood that Cobra brought him to Fairy Tail when he joined and apparently, he goes on missions with Wendy and Bickslow so he must be someone they trust. She had forgiven him and had a heartfelt conversation she even occasionally chatted with him but she was unsure of how he would treat her now. She felt like a shell of who she was which resulted in her questioning her existence before Black Sun. In a small, timid voice filled with apprehension, "How have you been Midnight?"

"Surprisingly well my dear, I am relieved that Cobra has finally found you." Midnight had easily heard the unease in her voice and decided to address it. "Lucy, you have nothing to fear from me, ever. You do not have to hide your true self on my account. I, like Wendy and Bickslow, am here to help you in any way that I can." he gave the blonde a warm heartfelt smile.

"Yea Cosplayer, Smith is good people." he tried to reassure Lucy.

Lucy laughed a little and looked at Bickslow, "Smith? Really Bix you couldn't come up with anything more creative?"

Cobra entered the room just as Lucy finished speaking, "Yea...no, his brain is like scrambled eggs."

Papa buzzed over the slayer's head as he walked into the room, "and you're the whisk!"

Lucy laughed at the interactions, she also found it very intriguing that a small blush developed on Bickslow's face. Nothing made the man blush and she thought it was a becoming look on him, in her opinion.

Cobra walked toward Lucy and Bickslow with some coffee, he caught a glimpse at Lucy and even though his face gave away nothing he responded to her thoughts, "mine too sweetness".

Lucy had an instantaneous feeling of joy and sadness at Cobra's seemingly out of place comment. She tried to dismiss the contradiction of emotions as part of her brokenness.

Cobra paused before walking away, he looked at her with his single plum-colored eye. She became uncomfortable under his gaze, silently questioning him.

"You're not, don't think like that. I won't let that happen to you."

It was Lucy's turn to blush under his intense gaze and declaration of commitment to her well being. Lucy understood that if he is as vicious about her getting better as he was when he took out Black Sun then she sure as hell would try her best.

Cobra sat on the bed next to Wendy, "Damned right I will and so will you."

Wendy looked at the exchange in confusion, Midnight sighed at the slayer's bad habit and Bickslow cleared his throat, "Care to share with the class guys?" Bickslow smirked.

Lucy turned to the rest of her friends with an apologetic look, "Sorry guys…" she looked to Bickslow, "I'll tell you later."

He just nodded his head in response.

Once Carla showed up, the crew managed to eat a light breakfast and departed to their new destination.


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy was in a state of relaxation as she laid back on Midnight's "magic carpet". Gazing lazily above her, she admired the mottled sunlight filtering through the hues of red, yellow, and brown leaves. She inhaled deeply, the air was crisp with the sweet smell of decaying leaves, a hint of pine riding along with the scent that is often associated with the forest and the autumn season. The scenery was slowly passing her by, she listened as small animals scurried about the dry browned leaves on the forest floor as they gathered food. It left her with a delightful sense of peace. She had always enjoyed traveling, even now, despite being exhausted and slowing everyone down.

"Can-it Jasmine, you're not slowing anyone down, keep enjoying the deathly delights of fall," Cobra spoke over his shoulder as he led the group on the path through the woods. "The other saps are doing the same thing you are," he snorted in disgust mimicking a higher pitched whining tone, "Ohhh I just love autumn all the pretty colors and crisp air," his voice returned to it's normal gruff tone, "It's fall who gives a shit, everything dies and then we freeze our asses off."

Midnight smiled and sighed, "Cantankerous as usual" he spoke as he walked slowly beside the slowly gliding Lucy. Leaning slightly down towards her, he added, "He enjoys it as much of the rest of us."

"Shove it up your emo-ass Midnight." Cobra snarled which only made the group chuckle.

Currently, it was Midnight's turn to assist Lucy so he sacrificed his more favored mode of transportation and forced himself to stay awake and walk. It was an added strain filtering and dividing his magic to power his, for lack of a better term, magic carpet. The celestial mage was glad he didn't opt to try and carry her since they were almost the same size and she wouldn't feel comfortable. Lucy's mind mingled back to memories of how Happy would always comment on how heavy she was, while the logical part of her brain knew he was just being a little shit; the emotional part always let it eat at her a little bit.

Cobra turned to walk backward, "That little blue twat-waffle is going to find himself waking up hairless one of these days."

Lucy couldn't help but see the glean in the singular violet colored eye and she just laughed at her mental imagery of a hairless Happy."

Lucy had sat up during the small exchange and she began to focus on the odd sensation of drifting along on the floating material. She had been on Bickslow's back earlier and this was a nice change of pace.

She didn't mind riding Bickslow's back, clinging to him like a monkey, finding comfort in the warmth of Bickslow's tall frame. She had focused on how his body felt moving under her as they walked, the pleasant rhythm of movement coupled with being surrounded by the rich smell that was unique to the Seith mage allowed her to feel a modicum of normalcy. The scent of vanilla and patchouli was something she always associated with comfort and happiness since they had become friends.

Feeling momentarily care-free from being out in the open and enjoying the light-hearted bantering, she admired the views from her vantage point. Particularly, the two taller men walking ahead of her. It was something she allowed herself to do at that moment because it felt like her old self.

Bickslow, who was closer to her, caught her focus first. She was admiring his height, as she so often did, even before her incident. There was something about the way he towered over her that she always enjoyed, he was a pillar of security and protection when she was feeling uneasy and in her moments of feeling cocky and sure of herself, he was trusted partner in crime.

She watched how he walked, his long, strong strides that held confidence in each step. He may have his insecurities around people but he had the most excellent command of his body. The acrobat as agile, athletic, swift, and sexy as hell. She always appreciated his reasonably muscular form, he wasn't overly built but had enough sculpted muscle to support his frame in some of his crazier aerial stunts. Lucy found herself constantly chastising herself for feeling that way about her friend. She reminisced about their workouts from before; how drool-worthy his physique was underneath his ridiculous Camelot on crack getup.

Her attention was drawn to Cobra when he let out a sound that almost sounded like a snort. She didn't miss the tenseness in his shoulders, she was unsure of why though. Her attention now focused on him, she watched his smooth gait as he led the group through the forest. Lucy noticed how well proportioned he was, he had a deceiving appearance. He did not look overly athletic or muscular but he was very well toned.

Lucy remembered watching him in her drug-induced state, how easily he moved with a grace and beauty that was an odd juxtaposition to the fact that there was blood everywhere as he killed and poisoned people with almost a giddy enthusiasm. She knew it should have bothered her, she should have felt something akin to horror but if she was being honest with herself, she felt no shame in remembering how sexy and attractive he was in his element. Even if she was in her right mind, if she was her old self, deep down without admitting it to a soul, she would have been just as enthralled. She wanted to fear that revelation except, the truth was the truth and there was no denying herself that. Even while his very demeanor screamed predator and danger to almost the whole of Earthland, to her he was a haven.

The blonde found herself grappling between her current state of feeling and thinking and the old sensibilities of her former self. It as a battle between pre and post Black Sun Lucy.

The old Lucy would have a problem with admiring both men equally, and she would have had objections to Cobra's disregard for human life regardless of how much they may or may not have deserved his wrath, or how attractive he appeared doing it.

She thought this beaten, recovering version of herself shouldn't allow for her to admire the attractiveness of a man she barely knows or to a very close friend who she hadn't seen in so long, where so much has changed.

Lucy's mind started shutting down, too focused on the fact that it wasn't proper to think such things at this time, or if there even was a time when it could or would ever be proper.

"Fuck proper Sweetness, you're entitled to think about what you want when you want. Ain't nothing wrong with that." Cobra's strong voice pulled Lucy out of her downward spiral, she looked up to see the slayer walking backward again and his violet-eye staring her down.

Bickslow watched the exchange and silently questioned the slayer about what he missed.

Cobra looked to Bickslow with a crooked smirk, "She likes the way we walk." He knew that Bickslow wouldn't be satisfied with the answer, but he also knew the man was smart enough to read the situation. There was a silent understanding that they would discuss circumstances later, along with a slew of other things.

Lucy shook her head, "Can-it Sauron, my internal musings are not fuel for your gossip-mongering." her smile was there but it was not one that reached her eyes.

Cobra walked toward the blonde and scooped her up off the carpet, Lucy not having any energy to object, let him do so. Besides, the second he made contact with her she felt a calm grounding sensation flow through her body which allowed her mind to rest a bit easier.

"I gotcha for a while, Aladdin is going to fall flat on his ass if we don't get him on his trusty carpet."

The blonde relaxed into his arms and leaned her head into the crook of his neck as she curled into his body. He began having conversations with Bickslow and she relaxed into the vibrations of his voice through the side of her head that was against his body. The rhythm of his breathing and words lulled her into a peaceful sleep.

Bickslow looked over at the two and smiled, he didn't realize how happy it made him two see two of his closest friends interacting like this. He felt a very small sliver of jealousy at the fact that he couldn't feel as content as she looked being carried by Cobra.

Jealousy was something the Seith mage wasn't accustomed to, after all, he was Boscan and their culture very different from Fioran culture. Bickslow rolled that small piece of jealousy around in his mind, trying to figure it out. It would be easier to dispose of if he knew where it was directed. Did he feel that hint of emotion because his Cosplayer was receiving comfort from the slayer and not himself or was it that the slayer was giving this small piece of himself to her and not him.

Regardless of which outcome it was, one thing was becoming clear, in the almost twenty-four hours they had been together the dynamic of their relationships among each other had changed during the time that they were apart.

From a small distance behind the trio, Midnight sat with his eyes closed appearing to be sleeping while Wendy walked alongside him holding a napping Carla.

"What do you think is happening there, my dear?" Midnight asked without so much as opening his eyes.

Wendy smirked, "You noticed it too?"

Midnight nodded in agreement, "I noticed it between Bickslow and Cobra first, but in Lucy's presence I sense something even stronger there."

Wendy listened a moment to what her dragon instincts told her, "The three of them fit well together."

The floating reflector mage opened his eyes to look at the two men walking side by side, Lucy's small feet sticking out the side, "Two of them possess soul magic, is there any soul magic in Lucy's heritage?"

Wendy shook her head no, "Not that I am aware of, maybe she has something latent or undeveloped."

"Bickslow and Cobra never had this tension in the air about them before." Midnight closed his eyes again.

"Yea, Bickslow and Lucy didn't have it either. Now that the three of them are together though..." Wendy's thoughts drifted off as she realized both her companions were now sound asleep.

She shrugged her shoulders more to herself than for anyone else and the party walked along relatively silent for the rest of the trip to the safe house.


	12. Chapter 12

All Lucy could hear was a rushing sound in her ears, opening her eyes, she realized she was back in that sordid basement at Black Sun. The smell of rot and ruin were absent, much to her relief.

She looked all around her in confusion, trying to move her arms that were strung up above her head. She could feel the raw irritation around the bones at the base of her hand. She looked at the raw angry rotting skin, the pain was so persistent that it overrode the discomfort of having her arms above her head for so long.

She watched a man hunched over in front of her, his form familiar but unplaceable. Dread flooded her system as she tried to reconcile the last thing she remembered, being carried in the arms of a cranky dragon slayer.

She tried to focus her hearing on what the person in front of her was doing, she could tell by the movements she should be able to hear what was going on, but all she could hear was that persistent rushing sound in her ears.

Movement on the opposite side of the room caught her attention as she saw the familiar face of her old partner Natsu. She smiled at her imminent rescue but it quickly slid from her face as she examined the scowl on his face. He looked disheveled and dirty and had a crooked smile that chilled her to the bone.

The other man lifted his head as Natsu walked over, she realized the man she thought she recognized was Gray. He stood and handed something to the other man and they slowly approached her. She tried to speak to them but no sound was coming out of her mouth.

The closer they came to her the more she realized that whatever was in Natsu's hand was meant to hurt her in some grotesque fashion. Tears sprang to her eyes as panic paralyzed her as they came within' reach. She couldn't shut her eyes, she couldn't scream for help, and she couldn't escape.

She began to feel a warmth in her hands, it felt reassuring and contradicted the situation she was in, the warmth traveled down her arms and just as her two former friends were about to touch her she became conscious.

It was a startling situation as she gasped a deep cleansing breath, she was in a strange room but it was not the menacing basement of Black Sun. Instead of Gray and Natsu near her, she saw Cobra standing in front of her and Bickslow sitting next to her. The look of concern etched into their faces started easing with relief.

She looked around and took in her surrounds, it was nothing she recognized, but this has been the common theme over the last year or so. Her apprehension and fear faded as she watched Wendy walking into the room with a glass of water.

No one spoke to her, waiting for a sign that Lucy was ready. As she took a calming sip of the water she saw the scene from her nightmare again, "I, I had a bad dream," she whispered more to herself than to those in the room with her.

There was a snort to her left where Cobra stood, "No shit, we couldn't tell by all your squirming and crying."

Lucy hung her head in shame at the sarcastic tone in his voice. She felt a grip on her hand tightening, she looked down to see the chipped navy nail polished fingers of Bickslow. Hearing a smacking sound, Lucy looked up to see Wendy had pulled the slayer down to smack him in the head, a disapproving frown on her face.

Cobra snarled at the little blue-haired slayer, Bickslow chuckled from her side, "I wouldn't do that if I were you man, that's what you get for being an ass."

Cobra could practically taste the poison as he glared at Bickslow, "Seriously, I am getting reprimanded like a fucking child."

Wendy pushed him back, "Then quit acting like one," she turned her attention to Lucy taking the glass of water from her and returning to the kitchen.

Bickslow gave a quick squeeze of her hand, "You're awake and you're safe, ignore that cantankerous one-eyed bastard, he is just sour that he couldn't help you."

Cobra huffed, "Fuck off all of you," as he walked out of the room, to where Lucy was unsure, but she was left with a sadness that she had upset the man in some way. She leaned into Bickslow for comfort not wanting to speak as she replayed events in her head.

Meanwhile, Cobra found himself outside lighting up one of his handcrafted cigarettes as he mentally berated himself. He felt like he was in that dream with her and was powerless to do anything.

He had tried waking her once they had reached the cabin and she just wouldn't awaken. As he experienced her dream he became more and more agitated. The bastards she had held in such high regard were now starring as her worst nightmares. All the more proof to him that they didn't deserve to know she was alive.

He knew it was an irrational thought, but at that moment he just didn't give a damn. He was so engrossed in his internal tirade that he didn't notice the small blue-haired slayer joining him.

Wendy said nothing, she offered the irritated man in front of her coffee, after a particularly long drag of his cigarette he grabbed the coffee and nodded his head toward her in thanks.

After a sip, the words just let loose, "She was in the Black Sun dungeon, flame-fuck and ice-tard were there but not to help her, they were getting ready to torture her." he sighed and shifted his weight.

"I can't do this," he said looking toward Wendy, "Who the fuck am I to help her?" he asked as the cigarette teetered between his lips, bouncing in time with the words. He inhaled and balanced the small white rolled-up paper between his fingers, "Spook collector just grabs her hand and she wakes the fuck up."

Wendy thought about his words trying to articulate the appropriate response. She just smiled at the man, "Get your head out of your ass and listen to her soul right now, you saved her, you are her anchor right now."

He took the advice and focused in on the din of her soul, he could hear her doubt and discomfort with his reaction. He drank the remainder of his coffee and tossed the expired cigarette into the mug. "Your right, I am an ass."

He scruffed up the hair on the little slayer. "Thanks for smacking some sense into me." he went in and made a beeline for where Lucy was curled in on herself next to Bickslow. They were silent and Bickslow just gave him a pleading look to fix the unspoken problem.

Cobra nodded his head for Bickslow to vacate. He settled on the couch next to Lucy who seemed far off in her own thoughts. Listening in he realized that she was questioning herself and her capability to feel normal again.

Cobra let out a soft "Hey" to get her attention, she looked up at Cobra only to see remorse swimming in his violet eye.

"I don't do helpless well. I was not mad at you, you did nothing." he sighed when he heard the doubt in her soul.

"Look, you had a nightmare, I can't beat the shit out of that, or poison it. I felt helpless and I hate that fuckin' feeling. If poison doesn't come out in my actions, it will come out in my words and I am sorry."

Lucy smiled at Cobra's bizarre apology and offered her equally strange acceptance of it, "Being helpless suck, I should know best of all."

Cobra smirked, "We don't have to be, but we can work on that shit once you are healed up and have your spirits back."

Bickslow spied his two friends having their moment from the kitchen and for the hell of it he activated his magic to spy on their souls.

He always liked to spy on Lucy's soul since it was the only one he had seen that had ever shimmered, not even his Archangel brother. He loved to look at her soul when she was happy, it reminded him of the White Sea pearls back at home. He was dismayed to see that it was now a dull shimmer less shade of gray. This past year's events had a profound effect on her since he couldn't even find a thread of the white or cream that it usually held.

Bickslow had fewer opportunities to view Cobra's soul but when he did the man was always the most mesmerizing shades of red. Flowing from the varying red hues faster than he had seen other souls cycle through colors, the number of emotions battling in him constantly betrayed the cold, calm, and collected nature of the Poison Slayer.

What Bickslow saw as he used his magic forced him to run a gamut of emotions that he was not prepared for. He was rendered speechless to discover that Cobra's soul was spidering out to wrap it's wavering tendrils around Lucy's. Kind of like a metaphysical soul hug. The very idea made him both happy and profoundly sad at the same time.

He had some inexplicable welling of happiness and satisfaction at seeing one soul trying to care and heal for another while he felt the sharp sting of rejection. Clearly, he felt a close connection to the two people he was watching and the realization that they have a closer connection to one another pained him. Again, he would be the third wheel in the lives of his friends.

He could feel the jealousy stirring in him, he knew it wasn't fair to them to feel that way. Their souls were doing what comes naturally, they were not even consciously aware of what was happening. He cut the magic off abruptly and turned for a beer out of the fridge. He felt the sting of tears behind his eyes he grabbed the helmet from the counter, once it was on his head he felt the familiar false sense of security he relied on so much. He needed to work out his issues so he decided to go for a run in the woods. His babies followed as they always did.

Once Bickslow was outside he felt like he could breathe, Wendy approached him with a handful of plants that she had been gathering around the safehouse with Carla. To avoid any prolonged contact with the sweet little Blunette, he started stretching.

"Hey Bix, whatcha doin'?" Wendy asked, curious to see if he was going to do some training or just some exercise.

"Goin' for a run," Bickslow knew the second he said it that he sounded off. He silently cursed himself. Hoping she didn't notice he did a few more stretches.

"You OK?" Wendy asked, she heard the strained response and wondered what was wrong with the Seith mage.

"Just dandy!" he said almost too loudly as he began to run off into the treeline. His babies following, all except Pipi who was hanging further behind.

The small totem turned toward Wendy, "Always a bridesmaid and never a bride." it chirped in a sing-songy voice before turning back around and zipping off to catch up.

Wendy huffed, "Carla, I swear they are worse than girls my age." she rolled her eyes as she uttered the words.

Carla nodded, "I agree, my dear."


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch she was on. She looked around the room, it had the feel of a quaint cabin in the woods. A stone fireplace sat against one wall while the open floor plan drew her attention to the small island that Bickslow had just vacated.

The two individuals were not ignorant of the fact that Bickslow's mood flipped like a switch. Lucy wondered if she had somehow done something to upset him. Lucy began to feel like a broken record in her thoughts, the constant loop of doubts left her questioning the standing she had with those around her. Did they also think she was the sniveling, insecure, broken shell of a blonde bombshell that she once was?

Cobra showed no sign of hearing either Bickslow's or Lucy's souls. He silently watched the fire in the stone hearth mulling over why it frustrated him to no end that Bickslow's soul was out of tune and how that adversely affected Lucy. He also knew that Lucy had to work some of her own issues out and it would do no one any good if he consoled her every time she had a negative thought.

Just as he was going to break the comfortable silence in the room, Wendy had come in quietly with a handful of what smelled like herbs.

Wendy smiled at Lucy and Cobra sitting comfortably on the couch. She hated to intrude on the quiet moment, but it was time to fix the remaining wounds that Lucy sustained. She approached the two and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Seeing Wendy approach, Cobra knew what was coming, he stood up and went to get Midnight, he was pretty sure the reflector mage could put his magic to good use to ease the strain of the situation. Wendy was going to have to use some intense concentration and having that many people around to help her, it may be easier to reflect a more calming situation like that of an infirmary instead of the rustic living room. Cobra was ready to provide Wendy with whatever she needed to take care of Lucy effectively and comfortably.

Lucy knew that there was going to be more healing to be done, she also knew it wouldn't be pleasant. She watched Wendy carefully and listened closely to what Wendy had to say.

"Alright Lucy, now that we are in a more stable area and supply runs have been made, it is time to get you better," the bluenette smiled warmly. "The mage that had performed healing magic on you was a hack. He allowed your broken arm to heal crooked and that is why you are in so much pain, and your leg was improperly healed. In order to fix these two areas we will need to re-break the bones so I can set them properly," the blunette paused for any questions, seeing as there were none she continued.

"Normally I would heal them fully but since there is so much scar tissue in those surrounding areas, I will be focusing my energy on removing the scar tissue, setting the bones and initiating the regrowth." she watched the blonde's face for any emotion and saw none. "Lucy, are you OK with what I have planned?"

The blond just nodded her head in agreement, "If that is what you feel is best then I am OK with whatever you need to do, I trust you, Wendy." The smile she gave the small healer did not reach her eyes but it was warm and happy. Lucy was just relieved that she believed the words she told the small slayer.

Wendy nodded in understanding, "You will be cast for 6 weeks, this will be a great time to work on re-exercising your magical containers, which I will do a once over again to make sure they are ready for you to use again.

The sky slayer knew the question before the blonde even opened her mouth to ask. "You will be ready to contact them after I am finished, and you've had some rest. I would wait until tomorrow at the earliest."

This time the blonde's smile was beaming, she wanted so badly to talk to Leo. She wanted to apologize for failing him and the rest of her friends. More importantly, she wanted to feel that piece of herself that has been missing for so long.

Lucy watched Midnight and Cobra enter the room and was sad that Bickslow was not back yet. "So how are we going to do this?" She was wondering how they planned to go about this and how badly it would hurt.

Cobra spoke up then, "Little blue is going to focus on the healing, Midnight is here to make sure none of us freak the fuck out." Wendy rolled her eyes at the lack of bedside manners.

Cobra sneered a little but continued, "I was hoping the Marionettist would be here to help you out if you were down for that."

Lucy was puzzled about how Bickslow would be able to help her, "How is that going to work out?"

"Well, I was hoping he could help you space out while I help bluebird fix you up." Cobra saw Lucy's face scrunch up in confusion as to what Cobra could do to help Wendy. Answering her unasked questions he replied without missing a beat, "Look, I will have to re-break your arm and leg and take care of the local anesthetic so Wendy can focus all her energy on everything else. That means I can't be putting you under with a little bit toxic TLC. I would have to monitor that shit so I make sure you stay under but not six feet under." He paused and gave the blonde a wicked gleaming smile, "I am fan-fucking-tastic at poisoning people but shit at doing it to help someone."

The blonde chuckled lightly at the attempted humor. She wasn't sure she wanted Bickslow fooling around with her soul, or that he would even want to. Maybe he would be disgusted with who she had become.

Cobra barked from where he stood, "Cut that shit, trust me when I tell you he would be more than happy to fool around with you and it would be in his best interest to take good care not to mess with you. If he does, I'll slice his fuckin' throat."

Lucy objected to the threat immediately, "You will do no such thing!"

Cobra growled, "If anyone fucks with you, they are dead to me and will be convulsing on the floor before they can say shit about it." he folded his arms, "So tough cookies twinkie, deal with it."

Lucy just shook her head at the image of the petulant slayer in front of her. It was useless in arguing with him, especially since she knew it was a non-issue because he was right. Knowing what little she did of the slayer, she knew that he would not let anyone near her that meant her harm so everyone at that cabin was safe.

It was perfect timing that Bickslow walked through the door. His babies circled him quietly as he walked straight to the kitchen to grab some water. The mood that Bickslow had been in was absent now as he chugged a glass of water at the sink. Cobra checked him over as he got up and approached the kitchen, everything seemed right as rain, which puzzled Cobra.

"Have a good walk there puppet master?" Cobra asked as he leaned on the island taking in the tall lithe man in front of him as he took long slow gulps of water. Cobra watched as his adam's apple bobbed and the strain of his elevated head stretched his tendons in a way that left the dragon slayer distracted.

So distracted in fact, that he did not notice Papa circling above his head. When the small angry faced totem started a classic wolf whistle that reflected the slayer's thoughts he quickly tried to swat the Papa away like an unwanted fly.

Bickslow chuckled at the antics of watching Cobra act so uncharacteristically agitated. Then again this was nothing new with how Papa was with him.

Hearing the chuckling from the Seith mage, Cobra turned to glare menacingly toward Bickslow, "Make that little shit shut-up."

Bickslow leaned over the counter toward the scowling man, "Aww, what's got your boxers in a bunch?"

Cobra huffed, "Fuck you" he turned quickly on his heels to walk away. He froze and cursed himself as he heard Bickslow's internal response that explicitly dealt with just how he would if he could. Not wanting to fully acknowledge what he just heard from the soul seer, he just looked over his shoulder with a devious grin in his direction.

"Come on freak on a leash, we got a little blonde to fix up."

* * *

It was in this space, a sort of in-between, that Lucy felt like she was most herself. She knew she was in a state somewhere between semi-consciousness and blissful sleep. Her eyes sort of open to see the hypnotic eyes of one of her closest friends. They were the familiar green hue of his magic, it was warm and inviting. She was reminded of a mossy grove teeming with life.

She turned her head over to where she could feel a strange pressure on her arm. She could see the steeled determination of the man she had become inexplicably comfortable around. His mouth set in a firm line his brows furrowed in a way that indicated he would rather be doing anything else than whatever it was he was doing to her arm.

She watched how his jaw clenched in a grimace when he turned his single eye to her. She got lost for what felt like an eternity in the velvety plum hued eye. It made her think of a luxuriously soft blanket that she could imagine herself wrapped up in. She imagined herself curled comfortably in the mossy floor in the grove wrapped in the plum blanket while enjoying the flowers that bloomed all around her in the mottled sunlight.

She heard in a voice so low and rumbled that it vibrated in her chest, "It's time, say nighty-night fairy princess."

Her focus was drawn back to Bickslow, looking into his eyes and seeing the creases in his eyes that told her she was smiling. She heard his voice soft and she couldn't tell if she was hearing him with her ears or he was speaking in her mind, "Hey sweetheart, it's time to take a little nap. I'll be back in a little bit with a milkshake for ya."

She felt that warm plum blanket get heavier on her body till she curled in on herself in her mind's mossy grove. Shutting her eyes she focused on the sound of the Seith mage in the distance. She thought about him, focusing on small details about him, like his smell and the way his hands felt on her, how firm but gentle his grip on her always was.

Once they became friends it was almost instant how close she felt to him. She had wondered what took them so long to even talk to each other. He would always tell her it probably just wasn't time. He was a feeling of security, comfort, and acceptance.

She had thought she had those things from others, but in the time she spent with Bickslow before her disappearance, she realized the varying degrees in which friendship with someone develops. It wasn't until they became close friends that she realized that she didn't have what she thought she had with some of the people she considered close. Others sought security, comfort, and acceptance from her and she gave it freely, but they did not always give it back to her the way she gave it to them.

It was these details that she had forgotten in the time she was missing, and she was glad to have them back. She also started appreciating the details she willingly ignored before. If it is one thing that Lucy had come to realize, it is that nothing is life is a guarantee. A new frame of thinking was emerging in the blonde, one that did not willingly ignore the attraction she had to Bickslow.

She always admired him from afar, but the people she was surrounded by held her to a standard of purity that she tried to live up to in fear of disappointing them and losing their faith in her. He never would have met their standards, but now she realized no one would.

It was a mistake, to try and live up to those standards that everyone thought she should abide by. She went against her own instincts and created unreasonable goals to attain. She found herself in too similar a situation that she had run away from and it took her a year's worth of hell to realize this.

She knew in her heart that Bickslow was a great match for her but ignored it. Only now does she realize how much that hurt her and possibly him. Seeing his own backslide as a result of her absence only solidified her conclusion.

Just as she was formulating the idea that she should tell the Seith mage of her revelation, she thought of the Poison slayer. Here was a man who she never had much of an opportunity to spend time with. He risked his life and suffered the ire from her guild to save her. A man she knew very little about believed in her more than her friends.

Again, Lucy was faced with that part of her she willingly ignored before, the part of her that found these unconventional men wholly appealing. The few scant times she had seen the slayer she was pulled to him inexplicably.

An instinct she again ignored in favor of the practical ideal that there was no time for dating or attraction, only time for her team and friends. Besides, from what she could see with how he interacted with everyone she feared approaching him. Even if she thought he was sexy as hell.

She found herself in a quandary and could feel the energy being pulled from her body. She finally gave way to the dark nothing that was waiting for her.

* * *

Lucy woke to the feeling of the presence of someone in the room. She felt the soft cotton pillow below her head and was surprised to feel remarkably better since she had her little nap.

Without thinking she went to try a full-bodied stretch only to realize that she had restrictions and some discomfort. As she cracked her eyes open she noticed she was in an inexplicably large bed. It reminded her of happier times when she was young, sneaking into her parent's bedroom when she woke in the night.

She had to make the assumption that this was Laxus' bed, which only made sense since it was Freed's safe house for the Thunder Legion. She chuckled at the quick image that conjured in her head of Laxus sleeping in a twin-sized bed.

Bickslow's babies came to life at that moment with Popo giggling and chanting "Big man in a little bed".

Lucy smiled at their antics, Lucy looked at Bickslow, who was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking chair, slumped over and leaning on his forearms. When he looked up at her she was taken aback by how awful he looked.

His face was drawn and pale with a classic five o'clock shadow present. He looked drained, and yet somehow relieved now that he was registering that she was awake.

He got up and slowly approached her, "How are you feeling?" he tried to crack a smile but Lucy saw right through it.

"Never mind me, are YOU ok?" the concern etched on her face. She realized that when she spoke her voice was dry and weak. Her eyes shifted to the nightstand where there was a glass of water with a straw.

Bickslow brought the straw up to her lips as he sat on the side of the bed, "Sip slowly". Once she had her sip of water she cleared her throat and spoke more normally, "Bickslow, what is wrong?" her brain started firing off all kinds of worst-case scenarios. She immediately counted the babies, to see if there were any missing or any more added for that matter.

Without saying a word, he carefully maneuvered himself to hug her. She could feel the emotion in it she could only think of consoling him with whatever was bothering him. He pulled away a few long moments later and his alarming features were starting to dissipate.

His eyes seem to spark back to life again and he smiled warmly and affectionately, "We'll talk a little later, right now you have some friends waiting to see you" he said lightly as he jingled her keys.

He stood as Lucy took them from his hand, "I'll leave you to it Love, and remember, take a break if you get tired. It's been a while since you've used your magic." He winked at her and walked out of the room.

Lucy smiled broadly as she clutched the keys to her chest and wondered who she would call first.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: ****Thank you to all the reviewers who have left comments! They are supportive and appreciated! Comments are like candy, fan-fiction writers love candy! **

* * *

Alone in the room, she stared down at the keys that lay in her hand, her mind had become a blank canvas. She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of the intricately detailed keys and the small vibrations of magic that flowed in them. If she was being honest with herself, as much as she felt so much love and comfort with them in her hand, she was scared shitless.

She wasn't oblivious to the idea that maybe they would no longer want to hold contracts with her since she had failed them. She broke so many promises the day that she died and their connections were severed. It was a wonder that the Spirit King didn't collect the keys and re-scatter them on Earthland.

She did not doubt in her mind that Leo would be called first. She was just afraid of the possibilities of how their reunion could go. Would he even heed her call? Did his life expire when her's did, knowing that there were no Hearfilia descendants to serve in her untimely death?

She feared that possibility more than any other. Her flurry of concerns was interrupted when the keys began to warm gently, almost soothingly in her hands. She felt a wave of resolve, knowing there would be only one way to find out.

She uttered the words that were so familiar to her and she felt the magic flow through her body like a calm river. It felt absolutely fantastic to have that feeling flowing in her body again. She missed it so much.

She kept her eyes closed as she called on her loyal lion spirit. Fearing the sight of an angry or disappointed Loke. She felt him materialize, but it was dead silent. Feeling as if an eternity had passed in silence, tears began to well up in her eyes.

She was startled when she felt a warm hand cup her cheek gently. She opened her eyes to see the leader of the Zodiac staring at her with an expression that put all her fears to rest. She saw the glistening eyes of Leo's and she lost all composure.

She sobbed like a small child, her whole body shaking with each breath. The emotions of her whole ordeal unleashed in a full wrath of emotion and Leo simply cradled his princess as best he could. As her body eventually calmed, rapid sniffles replaced the tears.

She pulled away and looked at the spirit she had missed so dearly and didn't even know where to start. Before he could say anything to her, she just whispered "I'm so, SO sorry," her voice was small and delicate and so completely broken.

Leo assessed Lucy and was shocked at the state his Princess was in. He knew things were bad at the time they had lost contact with her but he didn't realize how much worse it got. The relief he felt at seeing her for the first time in so long, was short-lived. Here she was apologizing for matters beyond her control when it was himself feeling unworthy of serving her, having been unable to protect her.

"Why are you apologizing Lucy," he asked as he wiped the last of her tears from her cheek. "I'm the one who is sorry for not protecting you. We all are, we failed you in a way that no spirit should ever fail their masters."

Lucy was stunned to hear her name spoken, he had rarely used it prior and the formal use of master added to the strangeness. "Loke, none of you failed me, I am not your master I am your friend and I failed you all. I broke my promises and, even though I called you out to establish another contract, I would understand if that is not something you would be comfortable with." She hung her head in shame for not being the Celestial Mage they all thought she was.

Leo only chuckled, despite everything he knew she had been through and everything he didn't know about, she was still the same selfless woman they had all grown to admire. "Princess, you always amaze me. Here we are the ones who failed you and you are apologizing for things so far beyond your control."

Shaking his head, he grabbed her hand gently kissing the back of it, "It would be an honor to serve you, my Princess, consider our contract as if it had never been terminated."

Lucy smiled and felt the relief flow through her. The moment their contract reformed in their magic she felt like she found a small piece of her again. She started to laugh softly at the antics of the lion as he stood to bow and then began fluffing her pillows to make her more comfortable.

Just as she was about to tell him to stop, she felt the warmness in her keys again and Leo pouted slightly. "They all think I am hogging your time," the lion shook his head and pushed the glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose back up, "I know we need to have a serious conversation soon but right now I have an angry maid wanting to take care of you and crab that wants to get your split ends trimmed." Leo smiled as he received the various messages from the spirits in the Celestial Realm waiting very impatiently.

"I am so relieved to have you back, there is a lot we need to talk about but right now, honestly, I could use Virgo's help going to the bathroom." Lucy smiled as her loyal lion approached her, placing a small kiss to the crown of her head as he faded away into a shimmery curtain of gold stardust.

The afternoon had been emotionally and magically draining for Lucy. She managed to visit and re-contract with all her golden keys, along with a few extras like fresh clothing, and a new haircut. Virgo came out every so often to assist Lucy as she needed help. Everyone else in the cabin relaxed to recuperate from the previous day's stress and give Lucy the space she needed.

Wendy spent the day comfortably on the couch snuggling up to Midnight who had made a small cocoon of blankets for them. They watched movies and delighted in the laughter that could be heard floating from the bedroom where the Celestial Mage was recovering, all under the disapproving gaze of Carla.

The other two mages had decided to take a walk and give the blonde the privacy she needed to reconnect with her spirits. Both men had some vague understanding of the magic required and the special bond that was being re-established. Bickslow understood it better than most since both he and Lucy held a close relationship with spirits of various kinds. Cobra understood because he could hear it in their souls.

The men walked in silence on the crisp early winter day. The leaves so dry the cracked they disintegrated under their feet, a thick layer of frost covering everything around them. They enjoyed the unspoken company as the small white perfectly formed snowflakes fell from the sky at random moments.

Cobra eyed Bickslow from the corner of his singular eye, he could hear the turmoil swirling in his soul but the seith mage did an excellent job at hiding what it was about. Bickslow had been practicing his shielding a little more now that Papa seems to have gone off the tracks in his antics with Cobra.

Cobra stopped walking suddenly and about 3 paces after, Bicksow paused and turned to look at the Poison slayer. Tilting his head to the side slightly, "What's up man?"

Cobra eyed the tall mage in front of him, noting the pink tinge of color on the tips of his ears and nose. He chuckled for a moment realizing that he had found it cute. He never admitted such things to himself and the fact that he was now made him feel even more agitated. Now was not the time to be entertaining these thoughts.

Cobra cleared his throat to regain his composure, "What did you see?"

Bickslow turned around, shoving his hands in his pockets and continued walking, "I don't know what you mean". His response was cold sounding even to himself.

Cobra still stood there as Bickslow walked away, "Bullshit Spooky, what did you see?"

Bickslow ignored the question, he didn't want to think about it. His head was swimming in confusion after having had control of Lucy's soul. He saw and felt everything she had and he understood on a deeper level that things were complicated as hell. He had no idea how he should proceed, he didn't know what the right thing to do was so he figured the best way to act is to ignore.

He had feelings for her before she was kidnapped, then Cobra came along and he certainly gained feelings for that man as well. The problem now was that he had all of Lucy's feelings floating around from touching her soul and he was having trouble differentiating between his feelings and hers. Not that it mattered since it paralleled his own.

Logically, he knew it was too short a time to even be at this stage of debate when it came to love and attraction, especially after what she has been through, but he knew better. When it comes to souls if they were meant for each other, then time is not a factor, be it too short or too long. He just didn't know how he fits into it all.

Cobra heard the swirls of confusion and frustration with no clear answer, the fucker was blocking and it was only making him angrier. What was the man hiding? What did he see? What happened when he had control of Lucy's soul? As Bickslow gained more distance the more volatile Cobra became. The fact that he was being ignored was only the tip of the iceberg. Cobra growled in frustration, "Hey, I am talking to you."

Bickslow paused in his steps, and turned his head toward the slayer, "I told you man, I don't know what you're talking about." He knew it was a stupid thing to say, that he should just fess up to the man that he actually cared a lot about. He should share the information and maybe they could figure this out together, but again, logic does not always prevail.

As Bickslows legs began to move again, Cobra snapped. He rushed at the man ready to punch or poison the answers out of him.

Cobra made a full impact with Bickslow shoving him against a large tree, pulling his fist back ready to wail on the seith mage. Cobra paused when he heard the low beat of despair in his soul. Cobra shifted his hands to grab the collar of Bickslow's coat and in a low demanding growl, "Talk to me asshole" his voice softened slightly along with his grip, "What is bothering you."

Bickslow was stone still, staring into the singular eye that was filled with confusion and anger. He wanted to share it all with Cobra, he wanted to know what the slayer thought of him, what he thought of Lucy. Where did Cobra see himself fitting into the whole scenario that was emerging in the Seith Mage's mind? In the end, Bickslow just broke, frustrated with not knowing what to say or do. He relaxed into the body that had him pinned against the tree and wrapped his arms around Cobra's midsection. He hunched over and just hugged the man as if his life depended on it.

It was Cobra's turn to freeze. He was unsure of how to respond. On the one hand, it felt like the most normal and natural thing to do, to return the embrace. He wanted to relax into the body leaned against him and comfort Bickslow. On the other hand, he was Cobra and in no way was he supposed to be capable of this. Lucy was one exception, but now he has two exceptions? If he wasn't careful he would ruin his ultimate asshole persona.

Cobra relented and tightened his grip on the mage and in a few short minutes Bickslow's soul began to right itself. He pulled Bickslow from his chest and looked at him squarely. "I'm sorry I pushed you, but your blocking and there is nothing I hate more than not being able to hear what is going on."

Bickslow shifted, "Sorry man, it's just with Papa being a loose cannon I have been practicing my shielding a hell of a lot more. Apparently, it works since you can't hear all the damn drama in my head." The seith mage smiled and stuck his tongue out in an effort to deflect.

"Cut that shit out." Cobra fought the urge to add a lascivious comment about the seith mage's tongue. It wasn't entirely appropriate at that moment but Cobra couldn't ignore the fact that a lithe strong body was pinned between himself and a large tree, and Cobra also couldn't deny the attraction he felt for the blue mohawked man.

Shaking the errant thoughts from his mind, he released Bickslow from his hold but grasped his hand absentmindedly and began walking. "Look, anything you tell me or I hear, it stays between us. Just so you know." he looked down at their joined hands, Cobra noted how comfortable it felt and tightened his grip a little as he continued. "I don't have a right to listen in on souls, it just happens, I hear a lot from everyone and sometimes it is difficult to remember that it's not always thoughts or information to be shared freely."

Bickslow looked down, surprised by their hands and from the apology. He squeezed back, "Thanks man, when I figure out what is up from down, I'll throw the fuckin' doors open." Bickslow smiled at the man holding his hand, "When you take control of a soul, it's not easy. It's a lot of filtering to only see and control what is needed. Lucy is just raw, so fuckin' raw. I couldn't filter and I got a lot of shit that happened. Even the stuff that she doesn't remember, but her soul does. That shit can mix with your own soul if you are not careful."

They emerged from the tree line and walked toward the cabin before either man realized it, Bickslow pulled the slayer's hand to his mouth and kissed it quickly, "Thanks man, for understanding" he smirked toward the slayer who had a dumbfounded look on his face.

Bickslow quickly released Cobra's hand understanding what he had just done without realizing it. He uttered a quick apology and walked quickly toward the cabin and before the full effects of his embarrassment could be seen shading his face.

As Cobra stood there watching Bickslow bolt for the cabin, he could help but hear his soul warble with excitement. Maybe Bickslow was just as interested in him as Bickslow was with the beautiful blonde inside.


	15. Chapter 15

That evening everyone ate in the master bedroom that Lucy was occupying. Virgo made a delicious home-cooked meal and set up a small dining area in the room for everyone to eat at. The meal was greatly appreciated since it had been a long time since they all had one.

Lucy filled everyone in on how everything went with her spirits that day and everyone was relieved to see the immediate improvement in her whole demeanor.

Cobra knew she was not even close to being right as rain again but having her connection with her magic back, he saw fair improvement in her mental state. She was thinking in a clearer capacity and gained a little bit of the confidence that was stolen from her. He found relief in seeing the improvement, at that moment he knew she would be OK, eventually.

Cobra was more concerned with Bickslow at the moment. He was tense and his emotions were swirling. He appeared very despondent and quiet as he ate. Cobra didn't exactly believe all of what Bickslow told him earlier but he knew that the man was not lying to him. Cobra felt that he was leaving something out or skirting a larger issue at play.

Even the totems were not behaving normally. Wendy had to eat around the small totem that was Pipi as she was unusually attached right then and eerily quiet. Popo was propped on Lucy's pillows and refused to leave her side, Popo just kept repeating "stay" quietly in the background. Papa was on the ground by Cobra's feet patiently waiting for the slayer's attention. Cobra could hear that Papa's soul had something to say but he waited. Cobra wondered why he was the only one to see the odd behavior in the totems.

As everyone was finishing up Midnight asked the inevitable question of the group, "Now that Lucy is safe and settled, do we have a plan as to how everything will proceed?" he turned to Wendy and asked, "What else does Lucy need before we move on?"

Wendy smiled warmly at the group as she put her fork down, "Aside from one more session to work on some of the remaining scars and her feet, everything else can be managed by her spirits and Cobra." she lifted her napkin to wipe her mouth, "As much as I would love to continue staying here if we don't want to raise suspicion we should depart for Magnolia within' the next two days. Any longer and we may draw unwanted attention."

Midnight nodded and hummed in agreement and turned his attention to Lucy, "I agree with Wendy, the next time we are out of town for a job we can hopefully detour back to visit and see how you are doing."

Lucy smiled at the kind soft words that came from Midnight, "I hope so, I hate to see you leave." She paused and looked down at her clasped hands in her lap, immediately feeling the sadness of their departure. "You're right though, any longer and it will be suspicious and I am not ready to go back." She gave a very melancholy smile to the group, "But I will be, at some point."

Lucy wished at that moment that she could just snap her fingers and she would be her old self again. Not this shell of a woman repairing herself piece by painful piece. She wanted to be that big sister to Wendy again. A confident new friend for Midnight. That playful and peaceful companion she was to Bickslow, and maybe more. She also wanted to show Cobra that she was a strong and resilient woman that could overcome the tragedy and horror of her experience.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the bed dip next to her and Cobra took her hand, "You will be all those things again. I'll do my damned to help you get there. You have nothing to prove to me, I know you are all those things just by you being here now. You are a fighter, just like Midnight and myself."

The tears began to well up in Lucy's eyes, "Thank you" she looked to everyone in the room, "Thank you all for everything." She scanned the room and was alarmed to see that Bickslow was missing. She frowned and paused, "Where's Bickslow?"

Popo lifted from her spot and floated to Lucy, and simply said, "Stay." She hugged the small totem and looked at the others in the room to see if they had any idea what was going on.

Cobra looked at Papa which had followed him silently to Lucy's side. "Spill it, Papa."

Papa began to hover but did not leave his spot by Cobra's foot, "He's in too deep, and he trying to keep, up above in his head, instead of going under."

Cobra growled and kicked the small totem lightly, "Fuck you, seriously, a song is all you got?"

Midnight piped up, "Yea and an awful one at that."

Wendy looked puzzled at the whole exchange, "A song? Why is Papa singing a song?"

Cobra responded simply, "Because he is an asshole that's why."

Papa flew up and bonked Cobra in the head "Takes one to know one, sour snake"

Cobra ignored the actions of the totem, instead, he directed his next question to Wendy and Midnight, "Why are his puppets being creepy?"

Wendy sighed, as she looked down at Pipi in her arms, "Pipi started being clingy shortly after you left Cobra." She looked up at the slayer sadly, "Things have changed since you left, they don't treat him in the same regard as they used to. I think the babies are feeling insecure, but I don't really know for sure."

Midnight grunted in agreement, "Yes, it is not surprising to see Papa with you like that or even Popo with Lucy. Those souls have an affinity for you three and it seems like they are reaching out for security or comfort. Bickslow has not been himself since yesterday."

Lucy sat quietly and listened to the information. She didn't know how to feel at the idea that the guild was treating him differently than they did before, but she couldn't speak to that since she has no idea what it is like there anymore.

She did, however, feel responsible for whatever Bickslow was going through at the moment. When she woke up earlier that day she knew there was something wrong, he wasn't right. Maybe he saw too much in her soul and was too disgusted by what he saw and can't stand to be around her. Maybe he sensed her feelings toward him and it pushed him away, as she had feared. That must have been why he was so quiet at dinner. Lucy sniffled before speaking up, "I… I think it's my fault. He's told me before that when he connects to a soul, he sees everything. Maybe… Maybe he-"

Bickslow stood at the doorway, "Geeze can't a guy take a leak?" as he walked into the room with a careless attitude as he scooted Cobra away from Lucy.

Cobra glared toward the seith mage as he moved away knowing right away it was a lie but eased up when he heard Bickslow's soul share that he just needed air because he was feeling the onset of a panic attack at the idea leaving.

Bickslow sat down next to Lucy, "She's right, I can see a lot when I control a soul. It's like opening a floodgate and it all rushes in. Sometimes it is orderly and linear, but when someone has had a tragic experience it is just a jumbled mess of incoherent information."

He looked toward Lucy, "This is not your fault." He paused and looked at everyone in the room. He needed to get his head out of his ass. The people in the room were proved to be true friends and allies in this world right now. He sighed and turned his attention back to her before he continued. "You were right this morning, there was something bothering me. You went through a hell that no one should ever endure. I had to come to terms and digest what I saw and felt"

In his mind, he was debating on whether to share what he was struggling with since dinner when the subject of returning to Magnolia came up. His soul asked the silent question that had been plaguing him since they had arrived at that small inn, should he stay?" he looked toward Cobra and saw him nod.

Turning his attention to the room, "I felt like I was drowning at sea during a raging storm. Her experience, her memories of the past year just crashed into me over and over. That is something you just don't move on from like it never happened." He grabbed Lucy's hand, "I'm not leaving when they go back to Magnolia. I can't go back and face the guild knowing what I know now." he put his head down and shook it, "We failed her and we failed her HARD." He looked up at everyone else, "I am not going to make that mistake twice, I'm staying by her side." He looked down when he felt a tight squeeze of his hand.

Lucy looked up at Bickslow, she suddenly did not feel alone in her ordeal, even if she never wanted anyone else to ever experience it. She smiled at him in thanks and felt utter and total relief knowing that he was going to be staying.

Wendy took careful measure of his words, "I am sorry we failed you Lucy." her attention turned to Bickslow, "You need to stay." Wendy began to shed silent tears, she knew things were bad for Lucy but she didn't truly understand. She got up and joined Bickslow and Lucy, hugging them tightly.

Midnight smiled at the exchange then shared his thoughts, "I agree with Wendy. Bickslow, you belong here with Lucy and Cobra. We will just tell the guild that we ran into Cobra and you decided to aid him in the search for Lucy."

Wendy nodded, "That is a good plan, it's not a lie that will be detectable to the other slayers."

Cobra shook his head, "Ok enough of this touchy feel shit. It's making my skin crawl." he stood abruptly, "Let's get this shit cleaned up so Sunshine here can rest. She is tired as fuck right now and won't admit it."

Lucy gawffed at the man, "I am not."

Cobra simply gave her a pointed look, "You can't bullshit a bullshitter sweetheart."

As Bickslow rose from his spot, he grabbed Lucy's dishes and as he did so, all his babies except Poppo followed him.

"Stay" was all Poppo said and Lucy hugged the small totem to her chest, "You can cuddle with me sweet pea"

Everyone exited the room with their dishes just as Virgo emerged to put away the dining set up back into the celestial realm. She then proceeded to help Lucy prepare for a night of much-needed sleep.

* * *

Midnight and Cobra were sharing a room in the cabin. Cobra sat in a comfortable chair near the window and Midnight was sitting on his bed. It was the first real opportunity they had to themselves since Bickslow, Wendy, and Midnight arrived.

Cobra played with the label on his bottle of beer as Midnight just watched him. This was a normal interaction between the two long time companions. Midnight would watch Cobra, read his tells and then figure out how to get the slayer talking without getting poisoned.

Cobra, for the most part, heard Midnight's soul and pretty much knew what was coming so he took the silence as a time to gather his thoughts about whatever Midnight wanted to ask him.

Midnight noted how the slayer fidgeted, his knee bouncing a mile a minute, staring intensely at the bottle in his hands. Midnight knew the man well enough to know that he was struggling with something. Being the ever astute observer that he was he figured it had a lot to do with a certain blonde and a certain soul seer.

From years together, Midnight watched as the slayer held his cards very close to his chest. The few times he extended himself in the past he had been burned, badly. Cobra was not the destructive, vindictive, and violent man he was today for no good reason. Emotions were held close to his chest and he kept a time hardened mask on at almost all times.

So it was a bit of a surprise to Midnight to see that his mask was cracking. Yes, Cobra formed close bonds with Wendy and Bickslow when he was at the guild but in his absence, the bonds only seemed to grow stronger. Midnight understood that they were the only ones allowed to ever see him like this.

Wendy was a female dragon slayer and the only one in Fiori at that. Midnight wasn't foolish enough not to read on up his enemies when they were just that so long ago. She was reaching the age where her dragoness was beginning to exert authority over the male slayers. She was a queen and didn't even know it, Midnight watched from the sidelines as the other slayers resisted the instinct to follow. This created turmoil on a level that Midnight doubted even the slayers were aware of.

Cobra, despite his asshole ways, is the only slayer to give the little queen the respect she demanded and deserved which formed a kinship between the two of them that was not seen among any of the other slayers. Again, Midnight doubted that all parties involved were even aware of their actions. It did bring more negative attention to Cobra for forming any kind of connection with the guild's sweetheart. Wendy, for her part, grew more frustrated with the ignorance the guild exhibited over all of it.

Bickslow formed an immediate bond with Cobra from the moment the doors opened at Fairy Tail. The ease that they felt around each other was noticeable to Midnight and Wendy. Her instincts told her it was more than friendship but Midnight wasn't so sure since Cobra's history was pretty blank when it came to matters of the heart.

Either way, their connection put Bickslow even closer to the fringes of the guild's social dynamic. He saw the decline in Bickslow after Cobra left and it was painful to watch. It was something he knew the seith mage regretted every day, not going with his gut and leaving with Cobra. If Midnight had to guess, fear was the biggest factor in not joining Cobra. Fear of what though, he wasn't sure. Some may have perceived him as weak, but the seith mage was by no means weak. He was stronger than many in the guild and no one truly acknowledged it. Midnight was pleased with Bickslow's decision to stay. Lucy would benefit from his presence as well as Cobra.

In Midnight's internal musings he knew what he wanted to ask, a question that he thought the slayer needed to address. So without directly asking, "Erik, how do you feel about Bickslow's decision to stay and not return to Magnolia."

Cobra looked up at Midnight, he knew what the reflector mage really wanted to ask but he figured he would play along. "It's a good decision for himself, he needs to be with Lucy as much as she needs to be with him."

Midnight exhaled audibly, he should have expected this by now, but it had been a while since he spent time with his friend. "How will his decision affect you?"

Cobra smirked, "Just fine, I will have help getting Tits McGee back in fighting shape."

Midnight just frowned, to which Cobra turned serious, "Just ask the fucking question, if you want to dance then I can fucking dance."

"What are your feelings for Bickslow?" Midnight had an air of agitation to his voice,

"There it is, well glam puss, like people always throw out, 'it's complicated'." Cobra leaned back in his chair, setting the beer on the table.

"Care to elaborate?" Midnight asked, hoping to get the slayer to expand on his vague answer.

"They are meant for each other. Their souls blend like sections of an orchestra playing the same piece. I don't know where that leaves me."

Midnight smirked, "Why is that any concern of yours?"

Cobra's tone of voice turned dark, "Because, I am a selfish prick and want him for myself." he paused and said more quietly, "I want her for myself too."

Midnight thought for a moment, "So you are attracted to both of them?"

Cobra nodded his head curtly.

Midnight's next question royally irritated Cobra, "So, is it your dragon that desires them?"

Cobra stood abruptly, "Fuck my dragon, how about what I want. Which, for the record, never fucking works out because I have the worst fuckin' luck in life and that is the last thing those two need to deal with."

Midnight watched Cobra pace the room, and wondered how much digging Cobra did listening in to them, "How do they feel about you?"

Cobra stopped with his back to Midnight, that was a good question, "I… I am not really sure. Bickslow's actions contradict what his soul sounds like. Clearly, he and Lucy are meant for each other but, at the same time he… I don't fuckin' know."

Cobra turned toward Midnight, "He closed himself up, I can't hear his damned soul as clearly anymore."

Midnight nodded his head, that was what was bothering Cobra. If his long time friend was nothing else, he was in the very least a nosey motherfucker. "What about Lucy?"

Cobra sat again, his body unsettled and fidgety, "She's not in any shape to think about shit like that. She wasn't afraid of me though."

Midnight gave his friend a look that questioned what he meant by that.

"When I found her in that cesspool, I lost my fuckin' shit. She watched me kill the entire guild and all she could think about was how cute I looked when I was smiling and doing something I enjoyed. I was covered in blood and she didn't bat an eye."

Midnight processed that information, "Wasn't she drugged?"

Cobra nodded his head, "Yea, but her soul, her soul didn't have an ounce of fuckin' fear in it, she didn't even flinch. Fuck, even your soul is alarmed when I am in one of those moods."

Midnight nodded, "Yes, well I don't exactly find maiming and killing fun like you do." then he smiled at the slayer, "Who knew the light of Fairy Tail had a dark side."

Cobra shook his head, "That's the thing, I don't think she does. I know barely anything about her yet for some fucked up reason it feels like I have been with her forever." Cobra sighed and relaxed back into his chair, "This is just so fucked up Macbeth. I've been alone for months and I was so fuckin' lonely and so fuckin' determined to find her and I don't understand why."

Midnight just smiled at his friend, "You'll figure it out in due time Erik. I am going to get some sleep now." Midnight stretched his limbs and yawned, he laid down and before he even truly settled in he was fast asleep.

Cobra decided he had thought enough for the evening and crawled into his own bed and was asleep in no time as well.


	16. Chapter 16

Dawn approached quickly, waking the slayers that resided in the cabin. As Cobra made his way into the kitchen, he saw Wendy brewing some coffee. He watched the smaller slayer flit about the room. He wanted to make sure they got to do something that they hadn't done in a long time before she left for Magnolia.

Cobra smiled, "Hey Queen Bee, want to go on a hunt this morning?"

Wendy smiled broadly, "I would love to!" she all but skipped out the door with her coffee, Cobra following close behind.

"I know it's a bit of a late start but I think we may find some deer roaming just to the north, what do you smell Blue Bird?"

Wendy sniffed the air she hummed, "Forget the deer Cobra, there is a mountain lion about 3 miles to the west."

Cobra chuckled darkly "That's my girl, first one there gets the teeth" with that said Cobra sprinted into the wood and started sniffing out the mountain lion.

Wendy laughed as she all but tossed the coffee mug aside sprinted into the woods right behind the poison slayer.

As the two slayers hunted the rest of the house woke up about an hour later. Bickslow checked on Lucy and suggested a change of scenery. He carried her into the living room and got her settled on the couch.

She smiled as she watched Midnight and Bickslow dance around the kitchen making breakfast. Carla awoke soon after and emerged from Wendy's room. She frowned when she didn't see Wendy.

"Where is Wendy?" she asked almost a little too loudly.

Lucy shrugged, "I am not sure Carla, I thought she was in her room with you."

Midnight looked up from the pan of eggs he was scrambling, "Cobra was up very early this morning, so I imagine she was as well."

Bickslow added his two cents, "They aren't in the house anywhere, the babies checked."

Midnight chuckled, he knew exactly what they were doing, and he knew the small white cat was going to lose her shit. "Carla, did you check the training area in the backyard?"

Carla shook her head, "No, I will go check there now."

As soon as Carla left the room, Bickslow began chuckling, "They are out hunting aren't they?"

Midnight nodded his head, "I believe they are, it's been so long, I am surprised they haven't done so before now."

Lucy just looked puzzled at the two in the other room, "What do you mean hunting?"

Bickslow cackled, "There is one thing we learned about little Wendy-Loo-Who, she loves to hunt. We figured it out while the four of us were on a mission one time. She came back with a little rabbit and the biggest shit-eating grin."

Midnight added, "Yes, Cobra got mad that she went without him since hunting satisfies his need to release some of his… aggression."

Bickslow laughed a little more as he added, "Yea, and little miss priss pants over there lost her shit. She doesn't like sweet little Wends getting herself dirty with the violent and unladylike actions of hunting."

Lucy laughed at the story, "Carla doesn't like Wendy doing much. I can see why Cobra never has anything nice to say about her."

Midnight dished out the eggs into a plate while Bickslow placed bacon on it as well, "You don't even know the half of it. Wendy deserves more respect than that small cat gives her and Cobra can't handle the controlling ways of Carla."

"I didn't realize Cobra and Wendy were so close." Lucy had an odd lilt in her voice. She wasn't jealous, but she had a feeling of being left out.

Bickslow brought over her plate and his own and sat next to her. "They're dragon slayers."

Lucy gave him a skeptical look as to where he was going with his statement, he responded to her questioning look, "I've read up on the dragon slayers, just as I am sure you did. I understand the dynamics a little better now."

Lucy did, in fact, read extensively on slayers since their guild had so many, she learned some interesting facts. Then she remembered, "Ahhh, little Wendy isn't so little anymore. She is a female slayer, the only one in this country." she chuckled, "So you're telling me that Cobra is the only smart slayer." She paused and her stomach dropped and she paled instantly as she entertained another more obvious connection.

Bickslow saw the instant shift and knew what it was about right away, "No Cosplayer, it's just a kinship between the two. Nothing more." He smiled down at Lucy when she saw the relief.

Bickslow stuck his tongue out, "Cobra is still up for grabs."

Lucy blushed deeply, "What? Why would I care about that? " she stammered.

Bickslow laughed at the reaction Lucy gave and he leaned in closer to her and said more quietly, "Maybe I'm interested?"

The moment after he spoke those words, she immediately pictured the two men making out which only made her cheeks feel like they were on fire.

Before any more could be said on the matter, Cobra and Wendy came in. Their laughter caught Lucy's attention as a welcomed change of subject. As she took in their appearance, she thought it should have shocked her. Instead, she smiled at how joyful and carefree the two looked as they went to the sink to wash their hands.

To say they were a little messy was the understatement of the century. Both the Poison and Sky slayer were covered in mud, dirt, and blood from head to toe. She watched as Cobra moved gracefully around the smaller slayer working in tandem to clean themselves up a little and get a drink of water.

"Oh man, you guys are so fuckin' dead when fancy feast comes back in from outside!" Bickslow cackled loudly.

Wendy looked up to see where Carla was, bracing herself for the lecture from her friend.

Cobra's laughter filled the room, "Fancy feast? Now that's a good one."

Wendy elbowed the man standing next to her, "Enough you two, she is my friend."

Cobra frowned looking down at Wendy, "Who treats you like a fuckin' baby".

Midnight just smiled and shook his head at the verbal antics. He knew the second Carla saw them in this state the shit would hit the fan and he had no intention of witnessing the hostility. He quietly put his dishes in the sink and went back to his room to take a nap.

Moments later Cobra said, "Oh shit, here we go."

No sooner did he utter the words than the group heard the shrill voice of the small white cat as she yelled, "WENDY MARVEL look at you!"

Wendy just smiled at her small friend, "Yes, I do need a shower and some clean clothes" she said as she tried to hurry with her water. She wanted to escape to the bathroom as quickly as possible to avoid any of the fallout.

Caral flew to the counter where the two slayers were standing, "You went out hunting again didn't you after I told you that is not appropriate for a young lady like yourself."

Before Wendy could respond Carla turned her attention to Cobra, at that moment Lucy held her breath because she had a distinct feeling that Carla was going to get poisoned or skinned alive.

Cobra growled at the small white cat, it was low and filled with venom and hate. "Don't" was all he said. He knew what the cat wanted to say and if she opened her mouth he would poison her and Wendy would kick his ass in return.

Carla having had enough of the slayer and his questionable influence on her dear Wendy ignored the first warning and attempted to open her mouth again.

"Look, Dutchess, if you don't want to end up as an afternoon snack for the scavengers then I suggest you keep your goddamned uppity mouth shut. Wendy is not a fuckin' baby and you damn well better learn to respect her and start treating her like the dragoness she is you fuckin' ungrateful cunt."

Carla stood, crossing her arms in utter disbelief at how she was spoken too. She looked toward Wendy who had an expression that told Carla that maybe she needed to do some soul searching on their way back to Magnolia. The look of relief, determination, and sadness in the small slayer's expression could only lend to the fact that Cobra may be speaking some truth.

"Goddamn right I am speaking the truth!" he all but yelled in response to Carla's thoughts. She took the situation at face value and realized there was no use in speaking to him. In a calm and level voice, Carla opted to ignore the slayer, "Come, Wendy, let's get you cleaned up".

The two friends left the room, everyone else remained silent, not sure what exactly just happened. The first to break the quiet spell was Bickslow, "Well, that went better than I imagined."

Cobra glared at the tall man sitting next to Lucy and his goofy grin. Cobra released all the tension he held at what the damn cat's thoughts had been spewing at him. He chuckled and filled himself another glass of water.

"You can use the bathroom in my room to clean up," Lucy stated as she watched the man finish draining his glass and put it in the sink.

He looked at the blonde, "What are you tryin' to say Tink?"

Bickslow looked between the two, "She's trying to say your filthy and you stink, so go get cleaned up you sexy beast."

Cobra raised his eyebrows, "Who exactly is calling me a sexy beast Echo?" and with that, he sauntered out of the room.

Bickslow felt a shiver of excitement travel down his spine. He took the surge of energy as the motivation he needed to get up to clean the dishes. As he did the dishes he watched as Lucy seemed to stare off after the direction Cobra had gone.

She was still his same Lucy but she had new facets to who she was now and he was excited and scared all at the same time to help her understand this new version of herself. He decided it was time to do something that was long overdue for them. He left the remaining dishes in the sink and went to his room to grab his nail file and polish.

Lucy was so lost in thought about how it made her heart beat faster watching the two men interact that she didn't even notice when Bickslow left the room. She only realized he was present when he flopped down on the couch in front of her with a handful of items. She smiled broadly recognizing the polish bottles and nail file.

Her beaming smile toward Bickslow made his entire being feel light and carefree. "It's been a while, and you are long overdue." Bickslow's slow and easy smile filled Lucy's heart with happiness.

This simple task held everything that she has been missing over the past long and sordid year. She held out her hand to him and he gently placed it on his propped up knee. She could feel his warmth in her hand and she closed her eyes and relished in how normal it felt.

As he filed her nails he talked of some of the antics the babies had gotten into. Just like that, the connection and bond that she and Bickslow had before her disappearance were back in place as if it had never been severed. The odd wet feel of polish being delicately added to her nails. It was the same feeling she always felt, that didn't change, it didn't matter that so much had happened since she last felt it.

As Cobra emerged from the bathroom and walked into the room, he watched them share their moment. He almost turned around to let them have their time together when Lucy turned her head toward the slayer. The happiness and ease that showed on her features were enough to stop him dead in his tracks. She lifted her free uncasted hand toward the slayer and wiggled her fingers, "What do you think?"

Cobra smiled at the excited blonde, "Looks, fan-fucking-tastic princess"

Bickslow popped his head up from painting Lucy's toes, a sly smirk on his face, "Your turn."

Just as Cobra was going to say no, he looked over at Lucy as she giggled and there was no way in hell that he was going to deny her that moment of joy. Besides, it's not like he wasn't used to it, Midnight did his nails all the time when they were younger.

Bickslow was pleasantly surprised when Cobra sat down on the floor in front of the couch and placed his hand on the table, fingers splayed, nails ready to be painted.

As Bickslow got off the couch and sat opposite of Cobra the three of them had a wonderful conversation about nothing entirely important.

Bickslow and Lucy were enthralled with Cobra's animated retelling of how he and Wendy hunted a mountain lion that morning. The moment was perfect by any measure.


	17. Chapter 17

It was a tearful goodbye for Lucy and Wendy. There were lingering hugs between the two women and promises of seeing each other soon. Midnight embraced his longtime friend in a firm hug with Midnight giving Cobra a mental pep-talk about embracing whatever direction his heart takes him. Cobra just pushed him away and uttered "whatever" under his breath.

Wendy hugged Bickslow tightly and wished him well, but before breaking away from each other she told him, "Take care of those two, and make sure Cobra doesn't give you too much of a hard time." Wendy winked as she finished her words.

Lucy sat and watched everyone through tear-filled vision, While Cobra turned toward Wendy, Midnight knelt in front of Lucy. "Please, take care of yourself, and remember, you are in very good hands."

Lucy smiled in return and reached her arm out to invite him in for a hug. It was firm and comforting and she couldn't wait to get one from the man when she wasn't awkwardly restricted by casting.

Wendy looked at Cobra and wrapped her arms around his chest. She squeezed him tightly and mentally thanked him for what he did with Carla. She also thanked him for not killing her best friend. It was what she said after that would stick with him for a long time coming. "Don't fight it, more than one person can be meant for you."

Cobra pulled back with a questioning look and Wendy just smiled as she turned to walk over to Midnight who was embracing Bickslow in a brief hug. Bickslow and Cobra walked their friends out and Bickslow's babies bobbed and weaved their goodbye.

Once they were out of view, the two men stood for a moment longer turning their attention to each other. Moments passed in a silence that wasn't exactly awkward but it wasn't entirely comfortable. Cobra tried to hear the man's soul but only got fuzzy feedback. He frowned at the Seith Mage. "They're gone, cut it out."

Bickslow tilted his head slightly to the side, "Cut what out?" he asked in a voice that held innocence but also laced with a hint of sarcasm.

"They are gone, you don't have to dampen those little shits anymore." Cobra huffed.

Bickslow frowned, he was afraid to drop his walls, afraid that the slayer might hear his internal struggle. He didn't want to interfere with the budding relationship between his friends. However, he was growing tired of constantly being on high alert to keep his babies controlled more and his soul masked from the Poison Slayer.

As he let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding in, Bickslow's shoulders fell. "Fine, but.." he looked up at Cobra almost imploring him silently not to snoop. After looking at the man, he knew it was useless, everything was useless. He was fighting so hard to keep himself in check that he was wearing himself out mentally and physically. All in the name of not letting Cobra know just how much he was into him or his best friend recovering in the other room. He shook his head as he looked down at his feet and walked inside after uttering, "Have fuckin' at it."

Cobra wanted so badly to listen in on the man's soul but something about his defeated nature stopped him. He followed Bickslow indoors and went straight for the room that he and Midnight were sharing to clean it up a little. Bickslow went into his room to do the same.

Lucy remained blissfully unaware of what transpired outside and proceeded to take her nap now that Taurus had carried her back into her bed. She felt the gentle pull of her magic when Virgo came out to tidy up. It was a reminder to Lucy that things were getting better, like she was on some road to normalcy.

While Lucy slept Virgo had taken it upon herself to give a small token of appreciation to the Poison slayer. She had made poisonous tea for the slayer and added a few special celestial poisons to the mix as well. She left the small package of pre-made packets on the counter with a small beautifully hand-lettered note to Cobra.

For the Seith mage, Virgo wanted something meaningful, she decided to wait and think a little bit more on what would be perfect for the man. Lucy's spirits felt a special bond to Bickslow now, especially after the other day.

It was unusual, but the Celestial realm felt the connection immediately when Bickslow took over her soul to help Wendy heal her broken limbs. This was the first time they ever experienced something of this nature and were curious as to why their Princess was turning the Seith Mage's connection into a two way street when it very distinctly was meant to be one way.

Leo was already researching the matter with Grandpa Crux. This information had not been shared with their master yet because, for all they knew, this was something that happened when a Celestial Wizard fell under the control of a Seith Mage. There had not been a recorded incident of this happening that they could recall so they were looking deep into the celestial libraries.

Lucy woke sometime later in the day to the sound of quiet whispering and distinctly male giggling. She smiled before opening her eyes, the laughter is infectious. She knew it was not Bickslow because she'd had her fair share of giggle fits with the man. Curious about what was so funny, she opened her eyes to see Cobra sitting cross-legged at the end of the oversized bed with Papa in his lap. She lifted herself a little and just stared in bewilderment. She may not have known Cobra well but she knew for a fact the man didn't giggle. Silently in her mind, she called for Virgo to get Bickslow. Lucy was pretty sure he would want to see the Poison slayer in such an odd state.

"Cobra?" Lucy asked with a smile on her face. She wasn't sure what was happening but she knew it was not something normal. She wondered if he was inebriated with the way she had found him.

"Hey Bright Eyes, Papa here was just telling me a few stories about Mr. Marionette."

Papa flew out of Cobra's lap and approached Lucy, "Your pink masochist gave sour snake good shit." Papa answered Lucy's unasked question, again giving her a moment of pause as to what was actually happening.

She raised her eyebrow at the small totem and gave a pointed look at the slayer. "Cobra, what did you have recently?"

"Iron Maiden there left me some tea, so I made some. It was fuckin' delicious." he laughed some more and leaned forward as if he were going to tell the blonde a big secret. "I am high as fuck right now."

Lucy just laughed at the obvious statement, "I couldn't tell Cobra, when did you have that tea?"

Cobra lifted his arm to look at a watch that didn't exist on his, he sniffed in deeply trying to regain some composure, "About half-past a monkey's ass." he snorted with laughter at his horrid joke.

Papa floated back over to the slayer, "Lame ass joke snake boy"

Cobra nodded his head in agreement while still laughing extensively, "I know right?"

Bickslow entered the room, unsure of what he would find. The last thing he expected to see was Cobra sitting criss-cross applesauce with Papa tucked into his arms laughing uncontrollably. The overwhelming moment of joy at the sight before him rang right through to the inebriated slayer and immediately caught his attention.

"BICKSLOOWWWWWWW" the slayer bellowed.

"Well howdy everyone, what kind of party am I missing out on here?" Bickslow asked with a light-hearted tone as he approached the oversized bed.

Lucy beamed back her smile, "Apparently Virgo made some kind of poison tea for Cobra. Some of which were from the celestial realm."

Popo interrupted as she floated toward Lucy, "She collected the most poisonous for giggle-snake, she wants to please him, like she likes to please you!"

Lucy looked thoughtfully at the small totem, wondering how on earth the soul would know that information. She directed her attention to Bickslow, "What is up with Popo lately?"

Bickslow shrugged as he sat on the bed in the middle of Cobra and Lucy, "The hell if I know."

Before any response could be made Papa commented on Bickslow's choice of seating, "Daddy, snake boy has the best seat in the house for you."

Cobra gave a heated look toward Bicklow and wiggled his eyebrows, "Damn right I do."

Bickslow felt his face heat up at the overt flirtation and quickly dismissed it, "My ass is too boney."

Lucy watched Bickslow's cheeks pink up, noting mentally how cute he looked, being the one teased instead of being the teaser for once. Her attention being brought to his ass at the mention of it. She knew for a fact that his ass was far from boney. It was muscular and well defined from years of acrobatic training. She thought about how it would feel to grasp it.

Cobra snorted loudly, "Well someone sure as hell doesn't think it's boney." He laughed as both companions sported blushing cheeks.

Lucy shot the slayer a look that could freeze hell over, "Quiet you. You're the one thinking about him sitting in your lap."

Cobra's voice dropped into a rougher quieter tone, "And you're the one who was thinking about how good it would feel grabbing it."

Lucy's mind could not think of a response; she was too focused on how sexy Cobra's voice just sounded. She spared a glance to see that Bickslow was also looking at the slayer the same way.

Papa chuckled, "Saucy snake sounds sexy sexy."

Bickslow had no idea what was happening. Papa was mimicking his thoughts about how damn sexy the slayer sounded. It blended with the comments about sitting in his lap and Lucy's apparent thoughts about how shapely his ass was.

The babies floated around chanting, "Daddy's broken!" while Lucy chuckled and Cobra also broke down into a fit of laughter.

Bickslow felt like he entered an alternative universe for a moment. He was puzzled why these two individuals were thinking about him in such a fashion. After all, wasn't it just the other day that he witnessed their souls reaching and twining together in a fashion that just screamed they were meant to be together. That left him wondering where he stood in this situation, maybe he was wrong with what he saw. Granted his soul seeing has never been wrong.

Cobra interrupted his train of thought, at some point he had stopped laughing, sobering up slightly after listening into Bickslow's soul ruminate on what was happening.

"You must have been seeing things wrong, 'cause you two are some kind of Mozart level shit together."

Lucy's grin slipped from her face as she looked from the Seith Mage to the Poison Slayer. "What are you talking about?"

Cobra looked at her with a defeated glint in his eye, "You're the woodwinds to his percussion section sweetheart."

Bickslow looked to the man, not understanding what he was saying. Not even sure what to ask.

"Look, forget I said anything it's nothing. I'm kinda tired so, g'night." Cobra stood abruptly and walked uneasily out of the room leaving Lucy and Bickslow in a confused state.

Bickslow looked to Lucy, "Is he going to be OK?" he asked since he was unsure of what exactly he ingested.

"He should be, Virgo wouldn't give him anything he couldn't handle, I'm sure." The mood in the room had dropped significantly in the room.

There was a long quiet moment as the two friends replayed Cobra's words in their head.

"Hey Cosplay, what do you think he meant by percussion and woodwinds?" At this point, Bickslow was scooting up further on the bed getting comfortable beside the casted up blonde. Before the incident, she and Bickslow would sometimes have movie marathons that ended with them cuddled up together. So it was almost second nature for Bickslow to make himself comfortable.

"I think it may have something to do with his magic." she thought for a moment before turning her head to the man next to her, "he can hear souls, so I suppose that every soul gives off some kind of sound or music."

Bickslow hummed his agreement, "I suppose your right. Apparently, we harmonize pretty well." he turned to his side and gave Lucy an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.

Cracking a smile at his antics, "I think it just means that we get along really well together, but we already knew that." she smiled brightly at him before continuing, "I wonder if it is similar to how you see souls."

The topic of seeing souls made Bickslow flinch slightly, he was afraid to look at their souls again to see if they were still co-mingling together. He absentmindedly answered her, "Maybe, I guess." he tone sounded more somber than he intended. He looked at the blonde to see that she was indeed watching him and he prayed that she wouldn't pick up on it.

Lucy looked at him and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently, Lucy may have had a horrific year but her intuition did not suffer. He looked down at their connected hands, knowing in his heart of hearts that it felt so right to be connected to the recovering woman next to him. At the same time though he was conflicted about the pull he had for the slayer. All the while he wondered where the woman next to him stood.

Lucy smiled warmly at the man next to her, "Hey, I know you like him."

Bickslow looked up at her with a hint of surprise gracing his features, his mouth opened and closed, unsure of what to respond with. "I… I don't know." he finally said defeated. He did not want to say any more on the matter mostly because he was afraid that he would push someone away if he admitted to anything.

Lucy just looked for a moment and saw the moment that Bickslow locked up whatever was bothering him. He turned his attention to Lucy, "Look, sweets, never mind me. You need to focus on getting better, and we need to focus on helping you get there." He squeezed her hand one more time before reaching over to kiss her forehead.

Lucy closed her eyes and relished the gesture. The feel of his semi-dry lips pressed firmly to her forehead. It was comforting and thrilling and left a warm flow of energy traveling her body. As he moved to pull away she reached out for his hand. She did not want to lose the comfort and warmth. She had missed it for so long, she didn't want to let it go.

"Stay here tonight, you know, like we used to do. Before…" her voice trailed off because she couldn't bring herself to make even the slightest mention of the last year.

Bickslow smiled down at her and nodded his head, "You got it." He nestled down under the covers. The bed being so large that there was room for another person between them without even being close to rolling out. It didn't matter to Lucy though, just him being there near her. She was comforted by the rhythm of his breathing as she fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 18 - fixed it!

As Lucy sat in the backyard stretching her muscles before beginning her physical therapy with Capricorn, she dwelled on how she used to wonder what life would be like if she ever escaped her ordeal. Would things return to normal? She had entertained thoughts about reuniting with her friends, hot baths, and meals. After some time those thoughts had morphed into wondering where she was going in life. Thoughts of leaving wizardry and opening her own shop selling stationery goods. Her future house and gardens with some faceless romantic interest. After a few weeks of daily abuse, the ideas started to seem absurd and she had abandoned it much like how she felt her family had abandoned her.

She often thought about the actions and plans that Fairy Tail was making to get her back, but after months of struggle, hunger, and torture she gave up on the idea. She started to question her value as a person, what her purpose in life as if she was even worth saving, her sanity was slipping.

What Cobra never realized was the day he rescued her was the day she gave up hope. She finally released the final thoughts of who would come to her rescue. She resigned herself to the torment and torture until her will to live was extinguished.

Lucy felt such overwhelming gratitude for gaining a second chance. She vowed to herself that she would not waste a second opportunity to live life. She wanted to become a better mage than she was before. To be someone that her spirits could count on because despite being assured by every single one of them that it was OK, to Lucy it would never be OK.

Cobra and Bickslow watched on from the house as the blonde was going over her daily physical therapy routine with Capricorn in the backyard training area. Time had flown by quickly for the three temporary housemates. Bickslow, Cobra, and Lucy's spirits made some adjustments to the existing training area to accommodate the abilities of Bickslow and Cobra and to add some elements that would assist Lucy in her physical therapy.

Capricorn began working with her just a few days after the casts had been removed. Everything healed great after a brief lacrimal check-up from Wendy. However, the scarring on her body was a clear indication that she had not been OK. She just needed to build strength, surety, and flexibility in her whole body, not just the recently healed limbs.

Cobra watched and listened carefully to Lucy as she maneuvered with a variety of balls and straps. It had been three weeks since the casts were removed and she was still very stiff and unsure of herself both mentally and physically.

Tensions ran unevenly through the house in those weeks. All three companions had their moments of surety, doubt, and confusion. The only person who had the one up on everyone was Cobra since he could hear their souls. Granted, he was beginning to doubt he was the only one with some semblance of the ability.

Lucy had been unaware of it, but she was beginning to answer and comment on some of Cobra's mental musings. Cobra was too unnerved to even mention it. In the meantime, he also discovered that Lucy's spirits would sometimes come out on their own when Bickslow would mention them in passing. Virgo was the most common since she prided herself on taking care of her Princess and her companions.

Lucy and Bickslow just chalked it up to Virgo's usual attentiveness and ability to come out of her own gate. It was only Cobra who picked up on oddities in the beginning. He knew something was brewing but in his own stubbornness, he refused to really examine the situation.

Bickslow was a whole other anomaly that was starting to irk him. The tiresome little shit called Papa was always at Cobra's side. It was strange behavior and everyone knew it but no one acknowledged it.

Papa was currently settled on the table in front of Cobra. The totem pulled him out of his thoughts when he spoke, "Just ask Daddy you spineless snake".

Cobra drew his brows together and flicked the totem with his fingers, "Why are you always so god damned rude?"

Papa lifted in the air "I'll be nice when you get your head out of your ass."

Cobra growled and turned to Bickslow who was just smiling at the usual exchange.

"Why the fuck does he do this?" Cobra asked in a raised voice.

"The hell if I know." Bickslow just gave his usual tongue lolling in response.

"Liar" Cobra said angrily, "This one has always been a pain in my ass, constantly hovering." He stood abruptly knocking over the chair. He was getting irrationally upset and he knew it but he was getting pissed at the nonchalant and dismissive attitude of the Seith mage. Lolling his tongue didn't help matters because it was a defense mechanism for Bickslow and he just used it on him.

Bickslow sat up straighter knowing the slayer was more serious now than ever. "Look Papa has always been a little shit. I just assumed he liked you. Like Popo likes Cosplayer."

Cobra huffed and crossed his arm, "His name should be Piss Ant instead of Papa, I am sick of him getting in my fuckin' head and just spoutin' off what I am thinking when he goddamned feels like it!" Cobra was all but yelling at this point.

Bickslow stood from his chair carefully since he was aware of just how pissed off Cobra was at that moment and he wasn't stupid enough to make a sudden movement. The words that Cobra said registered and Bickslow's brain ran through over a dozen scenarios as to why Papa was behaving that way most of which involved his seith magic.

Cobra stilled and looked at Bickslow who knew right away that the slayer was listening. He was unsure of how mad the man was about his thought process though.

"Bicks, tell me what the fuck is going on before I…" The threat died on his breath because Cobra knew at that moment that no matter how mad he was at the man in front of him, he could never hurt him or threaten him bodily harm like he would with pretty much everyone else.

Papa hovered between the two and said in a mocking childlike tone, " Awww… Shitty snake would never hurt his precious Bixy"

Bickslow watched as Cobra's eye narrowed and his aura turned deadly, Bickslow turned his head toward the totem and in stern voice commanded, "Papa that's enough, cut the shit."

Cobra also warned the small totem, "Better listen to your Daddy because I will certainly fuck up that little hunk of wood you call a body."

Those words struck a chord in Bickslow and his frustration turned to anger at the idea that anyone would threaten his totems. He glared at Cobra, trying to control his magic from bleeding out, "You will do no such fucking thing."

Cobra stepped forward at the challenge while he was seething, a small portion of him was quite frankly turned on at the anger Bickslow had expressed. Wanting to see just how far he could push the man in front of him, "Oh yea Puppet Master, watch me."

Cobra moved his arm as if he were going to reach for the totem who was seemingly stunned silent. Bickslow's hand lunged out and grabbed Cobra's wrist, the magic in Seith Mage reaching its limit in containment, his deep maroon eyes began swirling with threads of forest green, "DON'T… YOU… FUCKING… DARE" he ground out.

The slayer stared back at the seith mage in total and complete fascination. The anger and devotion he exhibited toward his souls made Cobra feel a pang of loneliness and jealousy that no one would ever fight for him that way.

Papa settled himself onto a small side table nearest Cobra, "Daddy would, so would Cosplayer."

Cobra heard the small totem but was too preoccupied with staring into Bickslow's eyes. It was almost as if watching the swirl of colors mix and blend were melting away his will to fight. He was having trouble recalling exactly how they ended up like this.

Something important was hovering at the edge of Cobra's brain but he couldn't grasp the idea that was floating in his head. He felt far too much euphoria staring into Bickslow's eyes, he wanted nothing more than to embrace the man and never let him go but something was nagging at the edges of his consciousness.

Bickslow caught on to what was happening and began to panic, he was not in control of his magic, and very slowly he was rolling Cobra's mind. Something was preventing him from stopping though. He wasn't sure what it was but as the poison slayer in front of him stared into his eyes, he felt equally lost looking into the deep plum color of Cobra's iris. Bickslow wished he had both eyes at that moment because it was so beautiful to look at.

A shower of gold appeared out of nowhere, both men far too engrossed in each other to notice or care. From the outside it looked bizarre and awkward, two men ready to engage in some kind of fight only now they were stock still.

Loke looked around for Lucy but was confused to see she was not present. He then turned his attention over to Bickslow who stood next to him and then over to Virgo who was standing by Cobra also looking for her master.

"What the hell is going on?" Leo asked

"I am not sure Big Brother, but I thought Lucy was summoning us." Virgo's face showed no surprise or emotion as she looked from the Slayer to Leo.

"I did too," Leo responded quickly, his voice laced with confusion and concern.


	19. Chapter 19

There have been very few times in Cobra's life where he was caught by surprise. This was one of those moments.

The two men practically jumped away from each other as if they were electrocuted.

"Jesus Christ, what just fuckin' happened?" Cobra's confusion was unmasked.

Bickslow looked equally confused as he glanced from Leo to Virgo and back to Cobra "Is Lucy alright? What happened?"

All the seith mage knew was that he was panicking and then he felt a strange jolt of energy that broke him away from Cobra. He was totally unaware of the arrival of the two celestial spirits and from what he could tell Cobra was too.

Leo looked at the two confused images, "We were hoping you would know, we were summoned" before Leo could finish, Cobra interrupted, "By who?"

Leo looked over to Cobra, "We thought it was Lucy needing help, but apparently it was one of you."

Virgo confirmed in her usual stoic tone, "Yes both Big Brother and I felt Lucy's summons but she is not present."

Cobra huffed, "Thanks Captain Obvious". Cobra briefly looked out the window to see Lucy still out in the training area with Capricorn. Turning his attention to Leo, Cobra stated with conviction, "It was Bickslow."

Bickslow took a step back and raised his hands in defense, "No way it was me, That makes no damn sense."

Leo looked at the two men, "Well then who else could it have been?"

The tension was growing thick in the air. Cobra was growing more agitated, sensing that Leo was holding something back, he tried probing him but his soul was locked up tighter than a nun in a strip club. The celestial spirits were entirely too calm for claiming they have no clue what was happening.

Bickslow raised his voice an octave, indicating his exasperation, "Let me get this straight, Cobra and I get a little pissy with each other and it somehow summoned you?" Bickslow asked. Loke nodded his head as he continued, "That shouldn't be happening, why is this happening?"

Without missing a beat Cobra chimed in, "Can someone tell me what the FUCK is happening?"

Bickslow now more frustrated than ever turned to the slayer, "Your the one who can read our fuckin' souls, why don't you tell us what the fuck is going on."

Cobra snarled his response, "Everyone has their shit locked down right now I can't hear shit."

Leo saw where the two men were headed in their anger, or at least he thought he did. So he figured now would be a good time to talk to them about what was going on without the presence of his master. He did not want to add to her stress levels during her recovery. For whatever reason, his mental composure faltered and Cobra heard it right away.

"Don't fuckin' lie to her." Cobra's full attention turned toward the Lion Spirit.

Loke shifted his weight away from the slayer, "Look, I haven't lied to her about anything, I have just made some observations and decided to research them further before sharing what I have observed."

"What kind of observations exactly?" Bickslow asked in a suspicious tone.

Leo sighed as Virgo returned to the spirit realm with a bow, realizing that it didn't matter to her what Leo found since she would devoutly serve her princess and companions. Leo spoke carefully, "It started when Bickslow took control of her soul to help heal her. We felt a connection right away and have felt it ever since."

"Ha, I fuckin' knew it!" Cobra burst out, although his scowl was contradictory to the outburst.

Bickslow looked to the slayer, "What do you mean by that?"

Cobra shrugged, "It was nothing concrete but I noticed that her spirits came out a lot more when they were mentioned casually by you or if you needed something."

Bickslow thought a moment at some of the times, "Huh, I guess you're right, I never put much thought into it since they are always around for Lucy."

Leo cleared his throat to continue, "Anyway, I have been researching the connection with Grapa Crux since this started because we feel the call as if it were Lucy calling us. That is not normal and shouldn't happen to the best of our knowledge."

"And you found practically jack shit.," Cobra stated before Leo could. His voice was laced with frustration since there were no concrete answers in the celestial texts.

Leo shook his head to confirm it, "The closest we have come to finding any information is that when individuals with similar base magic develop a strong bond they also develop other connections as well."

Bickslow asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Leo shrugged his shoulders, "My best guess is that it is some kind of soul bonded connection. Well at least in your case it is. Since you all deal with spirits and souls. The connection was building and when you helped Lucy it just cemented the bond in some way which allows us to hear you and why your souls are responsive to her."

Cobra rolled his eyes at Leo, "What the hell does this even have to do with me anyway? They were meant for each other, I didn't need you or grandpa snores-a-lot to tell me that their souls are perfectly in tune with one another, soul mates or whatever other cosmic bullshit you want to call it." Cobra turned away to leave in his anger, unwilling to spare Bickslow a glance since it would shake his current resolve, "I'm fuckin' out of here."

As Cobra hurried out the door Bickslow felt panic rise and he went to move after the slayer but Leo stopped him. "He is really tense right now, let him cool off a bit."

Bickslow glared at Leo and shrugged off the hand that was used to stop him, "Not gonna happen."

Cobra could hear Bickslow hot on his heels, he just wanted to make it to his room and shut the world out for the time being. He was sick of the tip-toeing, sick of the tension, sick of the what-ifs swirling unspoken around the three of them. Lucy was the most unaware, Bickslow was conflicted and Cobra felt in that moment that if he stayed there any longer he would ruin it for everyone. As much as every ounce of him screamed to stay put, he convinced himself that leaving them and returning to his drifter lifestyle was what they all needed to be happy.

Well, what Bickslow and Lucy needed. Cobra knew he would be a miserable fuck. Once he got to his room he slammed the door behind him and stood for a brief second looking around the room before going to the closet. He rummaged for his bag and tossed it onto the bed ready to go at a moment's notice.

Cobra knew Bickslow was coming and wasn't surprised to see the Seith Mage open the door. Cobra tensed as Bickslow saw the bag on the bed and was listening to the rapid-fire process of thoughts which matched the manic sound of his soul.

"You're leaving." Bickslow's voice held an edge to it that told Cobra he was about to break.

Cobra carded his hands through his hair and sighed, "I don't fuckin' know." He looked up at the maroon eyes, Cobra didn't need to listen to Bickslow's soul to know that he was panicking and pleading all without saying a word.

Cobra focused on the deep mournful beat of Bickslow's soul at the moment, he wondered if Lucy's soul would match Bickslow, sharing a melancholy blend of harmonies.

Almost as if Bickslow knew, he broke Cobra out of his moment of wondering, "Have you ever thought to listen to your own soul?"

Cobra just stood silent as he stared at the man in front of him. The silence being the answer that Bickslow needed to continue.

Bickslow took a step closer to Cobra, "Before you run away, why don't you try and listen in on yourself."

Cobra sent a chilled look toward Bickslow, "I'm not running away."

Bickslow pointed to the bag tossed carelessly on the bag, "That's not what it looks like to me."

"Shut up," Cobra said in a raised voice, "For once I am not trying to be a selfish prick. I won't get in the way of whatever connection you and Tits McGee have."

Bickslow tilted his head slightly in question, "What makes you think you're in the way of anything? There is nothing to be in the way of."

"Did that fucking helmet stunt the growth of your brain? The fact that you can't really see that you and the princess out there basically belong together is mind-blowing." Cobra replied, the frustration growing in his voice.

"Look there is no me and Cosplayer, I looked at your souls and I am by no means a part of that happy color fuck, it's all you and her." Bickslow finally let his cat out of the bag. He didn't want to because he didn't want to push anyone into anything they weren't ready before, least of all Lucy.

"What do you mean color fuck? Let me ask you, puppet master - have you ever looked at your own soul?"

Bickslow stood shaking his head no while looking defiant, "Her soul was damn near broken, what was always the brightest soul I could see was near lifeless and gray. Everywhere your soul reached for hers, it began repairing itself."

Cobra shook his head, "What the fuck do either of us really know then? You say I am fixing her soul all the while I can only hear the most epic fucking wonderful World of Disney Fantasia piece you two play together."

The two men stood silent, trying to process what the other was telling them. Both of them being ignorant of the fact that they themselves may have a connection. They were all so focused on Lucy and helping her that they were starting to unravel between themselves. They were all fighting their intuitions and instincts and Cobra knew it. For some reason he felt as though he needed to be the one to fix the situation and clearly, leaving would not be that solution.

Cobra recognized that Bickslow needed help as well as Lucy. The man was privy to the raw emotion of her soul and the last year of pure agony. The seith mage was a strong man but everyone has a limit, even Cobra himself. The poison slayer had an outlet, his was violence and destruction. Bickslow being a Boscan in Fiori was denied his outlet. Fiore's pious and conservative society had always looked down on the free and loving nature of Boscan society. Bickslow outlet was sex and he has curbed his outlet so much that he began internalizing his struggles, allowing it to leak out in his magic on rare occasion.

Cobra was not lost on the fact that today was one of those occasions and he simply couldn't find it in himself to be upset by that. Actually, he was afraid to admit but being wrapped up in Bickslow's eyes felt wonderful.

Cobra was brought out of his reverie when he heard Bickslow's soul warbling even further. As he tuned into Bickslow he realized the man was turning in on himself more and more. The downward spiral of frustration, confusion, and remorse over his inability to keep a tight lid on his magic had him doubting everything. He was berating himself for what he did to Cobra, feeling as though he violated the man in a way that was beyond apology.

Something snapped in Cobra at that moment and he closed the distance between them. He pulled the taller man into a hug, Cobra attempting to alleviate the insecurity through his actions.

Bickslow froze not knowing how he should be reacting. He knew how he wanted to react so he decided just to go with that. He sank into the embrace feeling the firm arms around him. Being a little taller, he nuzzled into Cobra's crazy maroon locks, their softness soothing him further.

Cobra tightened his embrace as Bickslow relaxed into him. His nose following the long column of his neck while the smell of patchouli and vanilla overwhelmed the slayer. His nose traced the pronounced jawline of the Seith mage as Cobra opened his mouth to let his semi-dry lips feel the skin along his neck.

Cobra could almost taste the vanilla on Bickslow's skin and knowing there would be no objection his tongue darted out and swiped along the taller man's jawline.

Bickslow inhaled deeply when he felt Cobra's warm firm wet tongue trace his jaw. Slowly switching sides, Cobra tasted the other side of Bickslow's jaw. The slayer's nose reached the seith mages ear and traced the shell of it while Cobra whispered into his ear, "You smell amazing" he went ahead and gently bit the earlobe of the man earning him a small groan of pleasure from Bickslow. He continued, "and you taste even better."

Bickslow grabbed Cobra's head firmly, palming each said of his face. He wanted to see the man's face, to look into the violet eye, and see if the sincerity of his words were there. All Bickslow saw was a deep plum iris that held a gaze that sent a shiver down his spine. Bickslow couldn't hold back anymore at that moment, he dove in to devour Cobra's partially chapped lips.


	20. Chapter 20

Lucy was exhausted from the morning's training with Capricorn. She entered the house and went straight to the sink to fill her water bottle. The cool water was soothing and refreshing as she chugged it down. She could feel the soreness in her leg and arm, she moved stiffly through the home on her way to the bathroom where she wanted to have a long warm soak to soothe all the aches.

After she finished up she made her way to her room to put on some comfortable clothing, she grabbed the muscle balm and was off to Bickslow's room to see if he would massage her arm and leg. It was always a guilty pleasure for Lucy, the man knew how to work a body with his hands, and when she would return from missions she often sought him out covertly. The foot rubs he gave alone were a slice of heaven, it often led her to the most lascivious thoughts as he would massage her sore muscles after her missions.

Lucy was thankful that these small tidbits of her personality were not wiped away. The fact that she fell back into a familiar routine with Bickslow, as if she was never gone, was a relief. It gave Lucy hope that other aspects of herself would come back naturally. She had also begun to embrace the new elements of her personality through her fast bond with Cobra. She felt a natural connection to him and she often wondered how she could have missed it in the past. She also sometimes wondered if it was never there before and that the bond they had was forged in tragedy, which left a bitter taste in her mouth. She often shoved those more morose thoughts into one of the various lockboxes in her mind.

As she approached Bickslow's room she realized it was far too quiet. Unusually the babies played and their typical chatter could be heard. She knocked and waited a moment before opening the door. She was surprised not to see him in his room, since she had not seen him elsewhere in the house, but she chalked it up to him going on a run. She did pause and think it was strange that the babies were neatly displayed on the shelf, their magic suppressed. He had been doing that a lot lately, often running by himself. It concerned her and she felt like maybe he was hiding something, but she couldn't understand what. Her thoughts turned to the tensions rising in the house. She knew that he and Cobra had some very strong chemistry together and the sexual tension between them palpable. The babies vocalized on it often, especially Papa. It was to the point where she had more than her fair share of dreams about what it would be like to be caught in the crossfire of their lust.

Lucy walked further down the hall to see if Cobra was in his room, while she went to him second, he was far from the second choice. His ability to know exactly where the pain was and know exactly what felt the best without uttering a word made him a formidable contender with Bickslow. Which is exactly why she always opted for Bickslow first, she had to be a lot more cautious and careful about her thoughts and about just how good the poison slayer's hands felt on her body. She wasn't sure if she was successful in hiding it, he wasn't interested, or he was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he didn't notice. All she knew is he never spoke a word about her errant thoughts about the skills he could utilize in the bedroom that she so desperately tried to keep locked away.

She shook her head of all these thoughts because she began to feel the telltale signs of arousal while thinking about the two men and their potential abilities between the sheets. As she shook the last of her daydreams aside she exhaled deeply and opened the door. She never felt the need to knock on Cobra's door because he always knew when she was coming. She had no reason to think this time would be any different. Once she opened the door she was stunned, a torrent of conflicting thoughts racing through her mind.

It was clear at that moment that the two handsomely naked men wrapped up in each other on the bed had no idea that she was even present. A remarkable feat for Cobra.

Her attention was thoroughly captured as she witnessed Cobra straddling over Bickslow, his back arched in a perfect showcase of his taut muscles, the slight sheen of sweat highlighted just how muscular he was under his many layers of clothing. She couldn't tear her eyes away as his hips rocked in a tantalizing rhythm on top of Bickslow. The man beneath held firmly in place by the neck as he bucked up into the poison slayer. The lewd sound their bodies and their voices made as they writhed on the bed together only added to the erotic scene before Lucy.

Lucy backed away slowly and closed the door as quietly as possible, she hoped and prayed they never realized she was there, witnessing their private moment together. She walked back slowly to the kitchen and grabbed another glass of water and headed out to the back deck where a comfortable chair was waiting for her. To say she was stunned about catching them in the act was an understatement, once those feelings of shock began to wear off, she was met with wave after wave of conflicting emotions.

One wave was her absolute happiness for the two men, they had been walking a tightrope around each other all this time, She understood that Bickslow had needed an outlet and he was repressing a lot of who he truly was for the sake of fitting in as a Fiorian. She knew that with Cobra he could truly be himself, they had a connection that was undeniable and she was truly happy they finally acted upon it.

One wave was a streak of jealousy that she was ashamed to admit. It was more complicated by the fact that she was jealous of both men for being in such an intimate position with the other and not her. She pictured herself in Cobra's role riding Bickslow just as easily as she pictured herself being in Bickslow's position being driven into hard by the Poison Slayer. Worse yet she felt jealous of not being in the middle. The fact that they left her out, hurt in some ways, there was no room for her in their tryst. This lead to realizing that in the long run there was probably no room for her in their lives together. Lucy had no doubt that they had a bond that would last a lifetime. She wasn't sure if such things as mates or soul mates existed but in understanding her magic she knew that there were unbreakable bonds that can be achieved in life with the right person or persons. Whether the bond was friend, companion or lover did not matter.

She also experienced a wave of shame and regret at even feeling this way. What right did she have to walk away from the last year with only a scant few months of freedom again, barely healed? She had no right to have these wanton feelings for either man, let alone both simultaneously. As she saw it she had nothing to give herself, never mind anything to give either man. She was just lucky that they stuck around as long as they did. She was not well, both physically and mentally and she felt as though she would be more of a burden on them.

Underneath it all was a profound feeling of disappointment that she was not meant to be a part of either of their lives in the capacity that she has witnessed since she was found. For once Lucy cried for the woman who was currently existing, the one that had difficulty defining who she was and teetered on the edge of sanity as she regained normalcy in her lie. The men in the other room were her collective rock, along with her spirits, and in her selfish moment, she wondered if she just lost a huge piece of her anchor to a newly budding relationship. One that did not include a broken woman trying to heal herself and using her best friend and savior as crutches, preventing them from finding happiness in each other.

Just as she found her body giving in to the convulsive sobbing that was surfacing she felt the hairs on her neck stand up, a feeling she hadn't felt in a lifetime. She almost forgot what it meant, her crying sobered up quickly and she dried her eyes in panic, fear froze her body as a crack of lightning sounded, Laxus appearing at the treeline.

As Laxus gained his bearings he saw what appeared to be someone resembling Lucy sitting frozen, like small prey, staring at the behemoth of a man walking toward her. The dragon part of Laxus could only smell fear on the small woman who looked like merely a shell of the blonde he once knew.

Lucy's body was frozen in utter panic, she couldn't move or speak even if she wanted to because the look in Laxus' eyes reminded her of the old Laxus and she was in no way prepared mentally or physically with a confrontation.

"Who the hell are you?" Laxus asked with an edge of anger in it.

Lucy looked on as he got closer and couldn't find the will to speak; she had been too wounded in her previous pity party to be able to comprehend if this was even real. How could Laxus not know who she was? She felt a sudden flood of panic wash over her like ice in her veins, surely her mind had truly cracked and this was all some epic hallucination that would end with her waking up in the dark dungeon that smelled of death and decay.

As Laxus came face to face with the blonde woman he peered down at her, "I asked, who the hell are you? How did you find this place?"

The anger was bubbling up in his voice and Lucy began to stammer a response but nothing came. She squeezed her eyes shut and flinched away when his hand came out and grabbed her by her bad arm and yanked her up. She felt as though the whole arm was going to break at that moment, setting her rehabilitation back weeks. She cried out in pain and she felt the telltale signs of his magic. At that moment she screamed in her mind, she was filled with terror. She was either going to wake up in the dungeon or somewhere she was not ready to be, away from the two people she trusted most in the world.

It felt like only moments had passed before she found herself collapsing to her knees throwing up the contents of her stomach outside of Fairy Tail.


	21. Chapter 21

Unbeknownst to all interested parties in earthland, the celestial realm was in a bit of a tizzy. Lucy's spirits felt her connection but it was duplicated almost exactly with a faint hint of a third developing and tugging at the two. It was the most unique circumstance that could no longer be ignored as a fluke by her spirits. They had been reluctant to go to the King, but finally, Leo had no choice.

It was during this ever-important meeting between the King and Lucy's spirits that Laxus had shown up at the safe house. During this exact moment of Laxus's arrival, Bickslow and Cobra were at the crux of forging a soul-deep bond. It was in this precise moment, a perfect mixture of chaos, that Lucy had been teleported back to Fairy Tail along with Laxus. If any of the parties were not otherwise so engaged at Laxus's arrival, things may have proceeded far differently.

Laxus would have realized that the woman he saw, who looked very similar to Lucy but certainly did not smell like her as he remembered, was in fact, Lucy. If he had seen the spirits pop into existence he would have known, if he saw Bickslow or Cobra he would have known. If Freed had told him about the alarm at the safe house and the information he discovered before he went off on his mission with Wendy and Midnight, Laxus would have known.

As it stood, however, he did not know. He did not know that the small frail woman who was vomiting at his feet was in fact Lucy Heartfilia. He did not see her emblem that was covered by her fingerless gloves, he did not hear her melodic voice tainted with distrust and fear. He only knew that this woman was an imposter of sorts who had managed to invade the Thunder Legion's safe house.

Again, unwittingly grabbing her by her recently healed arm and jolting her upright, he growled "Who the hell do you think you are trespassing on my property." He shoved the doors open and dragged the woman through the guild hall straight up to his office.

Lucy had her eyes clenched shut, swallowing the pinches of pain that shot throughout her arm, willing her tears away in a vague attempt to hide her weakness. She knew in her heart it was a futile attempt but it also served a dual purpose, she wouldn't have to see the faces of guildmates, the people who supposedly thought the world of her. The people that gave up on her. She hadn't even begun to address or acknowledge or heal that part of her.

She felt the chair cushion sink under her weight as she was forced into a chair. Her mind was whirling in a million directions, her thoughts felt like a dozen rubber balls bouncing in a box. She couldn't focus, she couldn't speak, and she couldn't open her eyes. She simply curled in on herself, knees tucked to her chest in the tightest ball she could manage. Only then did some of her thoughts begin to calm, that was until he spoke.

"What's your name?" The question was fueled by anger and filled with dominance.

Lucy had no response, trying to gain control of herself, any control, even if it was willfully ignoring who was speaking to her.

Laxus slammed his hands down on the desk and bellowed loudly, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" his deep baritone voice lighting a wave of fear over her tightly compacted body.

Lucy raised her face to look into the eyes of the man yelling at her. She knew then that he didn't recognize her. She couldn't understand why. He should have recognized her smell at least.

She shifted her weight slightly, her keys making a small sound on her hip. She had all but forgot about them in her flurry of thoughts but just as she went to reach for them. Laxus recognized the nearly impossible sound since Lucy's keys were in a lockbox in the guild's basement, as he reached for whatever Lucy was clutching she gripped them to her chest and folded in on herself again holding on to them for dear life. Never again would she let her keys go.

She felt Laxus' hand try to pry them away from her, she went on instinct and let out a feral scream and bit the man's hand as hard as she could.

Laxus staggered back holding his hand in shock that this woman had bitten him. She refused to speak, wreaked of fear, and acted like a scared rabid animal. "FUCK, fine act like a wild animal, I'll treat you like one."

Laxus pressed a button on his desk, "Hiroshi, send the twins to my office."

Lucy heard a barely audible grunt. She had a vague recollection of hearing the name Hiroshi but it felt like a lifetime ago. A few moments later the door opens and two men who looked identical enter the room. Their hair reminds her of Leo's as she peeks at them through the nest of hair covering her face.

"Take this woman to the hold please." An exasperated sigh leaves Laxus and it was the first hint of the Laxus Lucy knew.

"Yes boss," the twins said in unison. They each picked up an arm and rather gently lifted her from her spot. Lucy's body was forced to unfurl as her keys were held in a death grip in her good hand. She closed her eyes tightly once again as the two men she did not recognize took her to the basement of Fairy Tail.

It was there in her cell that she tried to summon her spirits. She found it odd when she felt the warm pull of magic but received no response. She was especially dismayed when she received no response from Leo of Virgo. She slumped over herself once more, she would try again a little later. It worried her, but that worry was no greater than being separated from the two men she had been spending the last few months with. She suddenly felt hollow and alone again, she laughed humorlessly to herself. While this nearly wasn't as bad as the dungeons of Black Sun, she found herself caged and cut off again.

Her tears no longer came as she stared at the inventory of bar supplies just beyond the cell. It was familiar to her, remembering how she would help Mira restock the bar after a busy weekend. They were memories that warmed her heart, remembering life before Black Sun.

Then she remembered how angry Cobra was when he recounted what life was like in the guild without her. The sadness in Bickslow's eyes at the thought of returning to the guild and that damn helmet he had adopted again in her absence. Wendy had said things were different, but Lucy knew she was hiding something.

She felt a new wave of resolve wash over her as she became numb to the warm memories of her former time with her supposed Nakama. She sat up straight and got into a comfortable position and began to meditate. It was the only thing she could think of at that moment to re-ground herself from her turbulent removal at the most inopportune of moments. Lucy pushed aside questions of whether the boys noticed her missing or why her spirits could not be communicated with.

Back in the safehouse Cobra realized with a start that he could no longer hear Lucy. It took all of two seconds for him to quickly connect the dots before he jolted upright out of the arms of the Seith mage who was still in a post-coital stupor.

Without a word, Cobra leaped out of the bed putting his clothes on, as Bickslow sat up and watched in dismay. He heard the man uttering "oh, fuck no" in a tone that was utterly heartwrenching.

Bickslow's immediate thoughts were that the slayer regretted everything that just transpired and Bickslow became stone still as his heart teetered on instantly breaking. Cobra whipped his head around and the look in his eye alarmed the seith mage even more.

Cobra spoke so fast that Bickslow barely understood what he said, "She's fuckin' gone, I can't hear her" Bickslow jumped off the bed and also threw his clothes on as Cobra yanked the door wide open and began yelling for the blonde.

Bickslow followed close on the slayer's heels. Feelings of shame washed over him as he was happy that Cobra's actions were not because he was rejecting him. Bickslow's heart now raced at the news that Cobra could not hear Lucy.

They raced outside and Cobra surveyed the training grounds as he inhaled deeply, smelling the traces of ozone, a deep and dangerous growl erupted from the slayer. "What is it?" Bickslow asked with a voice full of apprehension.

"Laxus" Cobra ground out, "I can smell him, he took her."

Cobra grabbed his communication lacrima and immediately contacted Midnight. The moment he heard his voice, Cobra yelled, "Is she there, did that fuckin' prick take her to the guild?"

Bickslow listened in while he activated his babies and summoned them to his side. "What do you fuckin' mean you're not at the guild? Where the fuck are you?" Bickslow watched on as Cobra paced back and forth.

"In fuckin' Corcus?" Cobra's voice was seething at this point.

"Is Wendy with you?"

"FUCKIN' SERIOUSLY?" Bickslow watched as Cobra punched the side of the house.

"No, she is gone. I smell Laxus and I don't hear Lucy, he took her."

"I don't fuckin' know!" The desperation in Cobra's voice compelled Bickslow to approach the man and put a hand on his arm to calm him. Bickslow was close enough to hear both parts of the conversation.

"What were you doing?" Bickslow heard Midnight ask.

"None of your fuckin' business."

Bickslow could hear the irritation in the reflector mage's voice "You call me looking for Lucy because she was taken while you were busy doing something else, what could have possibly been more important?"

"Fuck off, cunt. Who else besides you and Wendy knows?"

"Freed, he had become aware of the situation as a result of his rune security being tripped."

Bickslow facepalmed as he realized he should have been more careful.

"Well that fuckin' prick told Laxus and now she is gone."

"No, he did not tell Laxus because he is here with us."

"You just take him at his word?" Then Cobra listened in a little harder to Midnight's soul and he heard it. "How the hell can I be sure your little fuck buddy didn't spill?"

Midnight let out an audible sigh, "Our job is done here, we will meet you back at the guild. It should take us about 2 days."

"FUCK, she wasn't ready for this Macbeth. We are leaving now, we should be there around the same time as you."

Cobra shoved the com in his pocket and began pacing the back yard trying to sniff out more details. He smelled Lucy's fear and tears, as well as Laxus's anger. Cobra inhaled deeply and practically roared releasing some of his poison in the air.

Bickslow watched from the doorway, skittish to approach the visibly furious slayer. Once Cobra looked at Bickslow, the seith mage could not stay away any longer and he approached the slayer despite the poisonous cloud swirling. Bickslow was unafraid because deep down, at that moment, he knew the poison would not affect him. Cobra wrapped his arms aggressively around Bickslow and they took a moment to collect themselves.

Bickslow broke away first, "I'll be ready in 10 minutes".


End file.
